Highlights on racialized Canadian new entrants to postsecondary education
Correction notice
Correction date: October 27, 2023
On October 27, 2023, a correction was made to the chart “Canadian population aged 15 years and over, 2021” due to an error in data filtering.
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Data
The data used to create this interactive web application is from the following listed data tables:
- Table 37-10-0245-01 Racialized Canadian career, technical or professional training certificate students, by gender
- Table 37-10-0246-01 Racialized Canadian master's degree students, by gender
- Table 37-10-0247-01 Racialized Canadian career, technical or professional training diploma students, by field of study
- Table 37-10-0248-01 Racialized Canadian postsecondary students, by region of study
- Table 98-10-0351-01 Visible minority by gender and age: Canada, provinces and territories
- Table 98-400-X2016274 Visible Minority (15), Major Field of Study - Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) 2016 (43), Highest Certificate, Diploma or Degree (15), Immigrant Status (4), Age (9) and Sex (3) for the Population Aged 15 Years and Over in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories and Census Metropolitan Areas, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data
Highlights
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New entrants by population group
Racialized new entrants to postsecondary education
Racialized Canadians represented almost one third of Canadian new students in the five main postsecondary education qualifications (Career, technical or professional training certificate; career, technical or professional training diploma; undergraduate degree; master's degree and doctoral degree) between 2015/2016 and 2020/2021.
Source : For more information, see data table 37-10-0248-01, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
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Educational qualification of first enrolment
Educational qualifications of first enrolment
Undergraduate degrees and career, technical or professional training diploma were the most popular educational qualifications for all new students between 2015 and 2020, regardless of population group.
Source : For more information, see data tables 37-10-0245-01, 37-10-0246-01, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
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Undergraduate degree enrolment
New entrants to undergraduate degree
The number of racialized Canadians starting an undergraduate degree increased by 8% between the 2015/2016 and 2020/2021 academic years. Over the same period, the number of new entrants not belonging to a racialized group slightly decreased by 4%.
Filipino, South Asian, Arab, and Black new entrants had the largest increase over this period.
Source : For more information, see data table 37-10-0245-01, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
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Gender distribution of new entrants
Distribution of racialized new students by gender
The number of women starting an undergraduate degree equaled or exceeded the number of men across all population groups.
However, the majority of Arab, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, and Southeast Asian new career, technical or professional training diploma students were men.
Source : For more information, see data table 37-10-0245-01, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
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Field of study of new entrants
Field of study for racialized new students
Among new undergraduate degree students, racialized students were more likely to study in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field (44%) compared to students not belonging to a racialized group (31%).
Career, technical or professional diploma students studied in similar fields regardless of population group. More than three-quarters of racialized and non-racialized new students started programs in the BHASE (business, humanities, health, arts, social science and education) field.
Source : For more information, see data table 37-10-0247-01, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
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Field of study of racialized students
Field of study for new entrants to undergraduate degree by racialized group
Chinese and Korean students were the most likely to study in the STEM field among new undergraduate degree students. Meanwhile, Black, Latin American, and non-racialized students were the most likely to study in the BHASE field.
Source: For more information, see data table 37-10-0247-01, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
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Region of study
Region of study for new entrants by racialized group
Ontario was the most popular study province for both racialized and non-racialized new students.
Quebec was the second most popular province for new students from Arab, Black, Latin American, and Southeast Asian groups. Meanwhile, British Columbia was the second most popular province for Chinese students. Finally, the Prairie region was the most popular study region for Filipino students.
Source : For more information, see data table 37-10-0248-01, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
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Changes in the population
Racialized new students to postsecondary education population change between 2015/2016 and 2020/2021
In general, the number of Canadians aged 15 years and over who belong to racialized groups has increased. They represented 21% of the Canadian population in 2016, compared to 25% in 2021.
Racialized Canadians as new entrants to the five main postsecondary education qualifications (Career, technical or professional training certificate; career, technical or professional training diploma; undergraduate degree; master's degree and doctoral degree) accounted for 30% of the new student population in 2015/2016 compared with 33% in 2020/2021.
Source : For more information, see data table 37-10-0248-01, 98-10-0351-01, Catalogue no. 98-400-X2016274, survey of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) and the Census of Population from Statistics Canada.
Additional information
For more information on how to use this tool, consult the guide "How to use" available on this page (top right).
- The data and methods are subject to revision. Percentages are calculated using rounded counts. Totals may not add up to the sum of all categories due to rounding. See the technical reference guide "Persistence and graduation indicators of postsecondary students, 2011/2012 to 2020/2021" for further information.
- Estimates in this table are produced by integrating data from the administrative Postsecondary Student Information System dataset (PSIS) with data from the 2016 Census and the 2021 Census. Non-linkage weights have been derived and applied to these estimates in order to be representative of the entire PSIS population.
- The educational qualifications pursued and obtained by the new entrants are grouped according to the definitions in the Classification of programs and credentials.
- An entry cohort is based on the new entrants to a program leading to a specific educational qualification who were enrolled full time during the fall term of that Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) reporting year.
- These estimates include only Canadian students, where "Canadian students" include Canadian citizens and permanent residents. The concept of status of student in Canada is defined at the end of the winter term, during the first year of enrolment.
- The concept of "racialized group" is built using the Census "visible minority" variable. "Visible minority" refers to whether or not a person belongs to one of the visible minority groups defined by the Employment Equity Act. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". Please refer to the Visible Minority and Population Group Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2021 for further information.
- The "Rest of the population" category includes persons who reported in the Census that they belong to the indigenous group, as well as persons who do not belong to a visible minority group.
- The field of study is derived using the Cannabis STEM and BHASE groupings variant of the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) Canada 2016, which classifies fields of study into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and computer sciences) and BHASE (business, humanities, health, arts, social science and education) categories. BHASE also includes fields in legal studies, trades, services, natural resources and conservation.
How to use
How to use this interactive visual
The interactive dashboard is separated into multiple pages detailing highlights on racialized Canadian new entrants to postsecondary education. Users can navigate between the pages using the buttons at the top of the dashboard.
In each of the charts, it is possible to extract and import the data into a data table. From the selected graph, right-click and select "Show as a table". A data table will be accessible below the graph. Click on "Back to report" button on the upper left of the graph to return to main view.
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Catalogue no. 71-607-X
Ottawa
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