Canadian postsecondary enrolments and graduates, 2022/2023
Released: 2024-11-20
594,606
2022/2023
-4.0% 
(annual change)
1,143,489
2022/2023
-2.1%
(annual change)
205,242
2022/2023
+29.7% 
(annual change)
262,848
2022/2023
+7.1%
(annual change)
Enrolments in colleges and universities increased to 2.2 million students in the 2022/2023 academic year, up 0.6% from the previous year. The number of international student enrolments increased for both colleges (+46,989; +29.7%) and universities (+17,538; +7.1%). In contrast, there were fewer Canadian students in both colleges (-25,002; -4.0%) and universities (-24,021; -2.1%).
Overall, college enrolments rose 2.7% in 2022/2023, while university enrolments were down 0.5%, the first decline in a decade.
Number of international students enrolled in colleges and universities has doubled in the past decade
The number of international students consistently rose across Canada over the past decade and accounted for 21.2% of all college and university enrolments in 2022/2023. Overall, the number of international students more than doubled from 2013/2014 (199,116) to 2022/2023 (468,087). During the same decade, Canadian student college and university enrolments decreased by 5.7%, from 1,842,903 in 2013/2014 to 1,738,095 in 2022/2023.
There was an increase of 16.0% (+64,524) in 2022/2023 in international student enrolments compared with the previous year, with the majority of them being enrolled in colleges. This steady annual increase brought international student college enrolment growth up nearly fourfold, from 54,738 in 2013/2014 to 205,242 in 2022/2023. Fields of study such as business and administration (+20.1%; +24,843) and mathematics and computer and information sciences (+16.1%; +8,511) posted the largest increases for international students nationally in 2022/2023.
The increase in international student college enrolments observed in 2022/2023 was driven by students from India (+31.6% to 115,119 students). The number of international students with Indian citizenship studying in Canadian colleges accounted for 56.1% of all international student college enrolments.
Canadian student total enrolments declined by 2.7% to 1,738,095 in 2022/2023, continuing a trend that began in 2013/2014. Both college (-4.0% to 594,606) and university (-2.1% to 1,143,489) enrolments declined in 2022/2023 compared with the previous year. Canadian student enrolments decreased across all fields of study except for mathematics and computer and information sciences, which saw a 5.0% increase to 96,834 students. The growth in enrolments in mathematics and computer and information sciences was observed at both colleges (+5.6% to 36,405) and universities (+4.6% to 60,432).
Chart 1
International student enrolments by institution type, 2013/2014 to 2022/2023
Chart 2
Canadian student enrolments by institution type, 2013/2014 to 2022/2023
Number of graduates down in 2022 for both colleges and universities
In 2022, 617,301 students graduated with a certificate, diploma or degree from a Canadian public postsecondary institution, down 2.7% (-17,328) from one year earlier and following a 7.5% increase in 2021.
The total number of graduates decreased for universities (-2.6%) and colleges (-2.9%) in 2022. This decrease was driven by Canadian college (-6.9%) and university (-3.3%) graduates. The decreases in graduates were observed across the country except in the territories and New Brunswick. The overall decline was driven by fewer college and university graduates in Quebec (-5.4% to 154,932) and British Columbia (-5.9% to 72,039).
The two previous graduation years were atypical; the number of graduates was steady in 2020 (+0.6%) and then experienced an unusually sharp rise in 2021 (+7.5%). However, when comparing 2022 with 2019 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), the number of graduates increased by 5.2%, representing an average increase of 1.7% per year, suggesting a return to the typical growth trend observed within the decade prior to 2019.
Number of health care graduates in 2022 higher than pre-pandemic levels
Following a 16.7% increase in 2021, the number of health care program graduates dropped by 1.7% in 2022, declining primarily among college graduates (-4.2%; -1,743). However, compared with the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, the number of health care program graduates in 2022 increased by 8.1% (+5,697). This growth is consistent with an increasing demand for health care and social assistance specialists, as tracked by the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey since at least 2015.
In contrast to most programs, the number of graduates in mathematics and computer and information science programs increased by 9.0% (+3,621) in 2022, driven by a 10.4% increase in computer and information sciences graduates, reaching 35,679. This growth continued a decade-long trend for these programs, which saw an average annual increase of 11.9% over the past 10 years.
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Note to readers
Administrative data on Canadian postsecondary institution enrolments and graduates are obtained from public colleges and universities using the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS). The counts exclude students enrolled in apprenticeship programs. Enrolment and graduate counts for certain institutions are preliminary or based on estimates.
The number of enrolments presented is not meant to represent a complete enumeration of all students at postsecondary institutions during the 2022/2023 academic year. Instead, they are based on students enrolled in postsecondary institutions at the time of the fall snapshot date, that is, a single date chosen by the institution that falls between September 30 and December 1. Therefore, students who are not enrolled during this period are excluded. This has a greater impact on colleges as they have a continuous intake of students and offer shorter programs.
Enrolments are based on program counts and not on student counts. If a student is enrolled in more than one program as of the snapshot date, all their programs are included in the count.
Graduate data are published based on the calendar year.
Colleges can offer some programs at the bachelor level and above.
All numbers, including the totals, have been rounded; therefore, sums of the values may not match the total counts. Percentage changes were calculated using rounded values. The data are subject to annual revisions. These revisions are applied to include new data submissions from 2004, any updates to classification standards and changes in concepts.
Data for PSIS 2022/2023 has been historically revised to account for the transition from the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) Canada 2016 Cannabis variant to the CIP Canada 2021 Version 1.0.
Products
To further explore 2022/2023 postsecondary enrolment and graduation data in a visual format, refer to the comprehensive data visualization tool "Elementary to Postsecondary Student Education Dashboard: Enrolments, Graduations and Tuition Fees."
This comprehensive data visualization tool combines information from three surveys: Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs, Elementary-Secondary Education Survey, and the Postsecondary Student Information System. Each survey is released separately, and information includes the cost of tuition, an overview of total enrolment and graduation counts, characteristics of students and programs, as well as details on new enrolments by gender, age group and student status, which will be released on a separate date.
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).
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