Canadian postsecondary enrolments and graduates, 2021/2022

Released: 2023-11-22

Today, Statistics Canada is releasing data from the 2021/2022 Postsecondary Information System Survey. This release includes information on postsecondary enrolments and graduates for Canadian public colleges and universities by various characteristics. Data are available at the national, provincial or territorial and institutional levels.

Enrolments in public colleges and universities increased slightly in 2021/2022 by 0.6% compared with the pre-COVID-19 pandemic year of 2019/2020, after experiencing a slight decrease (-0.6%) in 2020/2021 due to pandemic restrictions and regulations. This increase was driven mainly by international student enrolments at the college (+1.0%) and university (+4.2%) levels.

In the 2021 calendar year, 634,431 students graduated from a public postsecondary institution. This number represented an increase of 7.5% from the 2020 calendar year—significantly higher than the average 2.0% year-over-year change observed during the previous five years. The increase in the number of graduates was attributed to both international and domestic students.

Additional analytical insights of the data are also available in the following Power BI Web Report: "Key Trends in Elementary to Postsecondary Student Enrolments, Graduations and Tuition Fees."

Products

To further explore 2021/2022 data on enrolments and graduates in a visual format, refer to the comprehensive data visualization tool "Elementary to Postsecondary Student Education Dashboard: Enrolments, Graduations and Tuition Fees," which combines information from three surveys: Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs, Elementary-Secondary Education Survey, and the Postsecondary Student Information System.

Information in the data visualization tool includes the cost of tuition, an overview of total enrolment and graduation counts, characteristics of students and programs, and details on new enrolments by gender, age group and student status.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).