Enrollments are down this fall in Quebec universities, particularly at the undergraduate level, which is down 2.5%. A situation that institutions are monitoring closely and which is explained in particular by the shortage of manpower, many preferring to work rather than study. At the same time, enrollment of foreign students continues to soar, with levels reaching a peak.
Nearly 312,000 students are attending the university this term and, across all cycles, enrollment is down 1.4% from last fall, shows preliminary data from universities and compiled by the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI). “This decline is essentially attributable to people opting for a part-time path,” the report reads. The BCI did not wish to grant an interview or answer our questions.
The vast majority of universities are affected. HEC Montréal is among the establishments that have recorded the greatest decline in Quebec, with a drop of 5.4% at the undergraduate level. It is especially on the side of part-time students that the shoe pinches, with a decrease of more than 9% in registrations, explains in an interview with The duty the director of studies, François Bellavance.
“It’s in the certificate programs that it’s a little more concerning. It’s because of the socio-economic context and the labor shortage, he says. In this post-pandemic period, people are having less difficulty finding full-time employment. »
A finding shared by the University of Montreal (UdeM), which for its part recorded a decrease of nearly 4% in the first cycle. “It is above all the non-limited and labor market-sensitive programs that are experiencing a decline,” explains the spokesperson, Geneviève O’Meara.
“We are watching this closely,” adds Murielle Laberge, rector of the University of Quebec in Outaouais (UQO), where there is a 3.6% drop in undergraduate studies.
Employers pressure their employees to work longer hours, she finds, giving them less time to study. “We have had a significant drop in part-time students, particularly in the nursing program, underlines the rector. We are not surprised given the shortage in the health network and the requests for overtime. »
Pandemic rebound
Is it a problem that students prioritize work over studies? “It’s important that people continue to go to school, because it has consequences on their personal lives [comme leurs conditions de travail] and on the economy and the well-being of society,” thinks Murielle Laberge. The rector of the UQO recalls, however, that the declines in registration are cyclical.
At the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), where there is a 3.82% drop in undergraduate enrollment, the rector mentions that there has been a jump in “atypical” enrollment at part-time during the pandemic. The situation is therefore returning to more normal this fall.
“There are pandemic effects in all this, underlines Christian Blanchette. Distance learning made courses more accessible, and people took the opportunity to register. Remember, we could no longer go to the restaurant or the theater, we were confined to the house. »
The population decline also has an impact. “It is at the end of the current decade that we will see the number of young people of university age go up,” he says.
At UQAM, the drop in the number of enrollments continues. The establishment had experienced an 8% drop in undergraduates last year, which had triggered a reflection within the institution. This fall, bachelor’s and certificate enrollment decreased by 4.6%.
The establishment preferred to comment on the situation in writing rather than granting us an interview. “As UQAM has been recognized since its creation for welcoming students who pursue part-time studies, it is possible that a certain number of them will have returned to the labor market”, underlines the spokesperson, Jenny Rocks.
Increase in foreign students
Foreign students continue to flock to Quebec, in a comeback following the disappearance of health restrictions. In one year, the number of registrants for all cycles combined has increased by 10.2%. Last fall, the increase was 12.4% compared to 2020.
The University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC), which is experiencing an 18.9% increase, speaks of an “all-time record” with more than 2,000 foreign students attending the establishment. “These figures exceed pre-2020 levels,” said Guylaine Boivin, Director of the International Office.
This is also the case at UQTR, which recorded an increase of 12.41% this year. “Compared to our 2019 data, it is a 27% increase”, underlines Christian Blanchette. He explains that the significant growth of the university’s research activities has attracted foreign candidates for graduate studies. “In many hyper-specialized fields, we are not filling up in Quebec,” he says.
At UQO, where there is a significant jump of 30.7% this fall compared to last year, we are also in a marked increase, even compared to pre-pandemic levels. “Before the pandemic, there was a very clear desire to increase our recruitment, underlines the rector, Murielle Laberge. Today, we are beginning to reap the benefits of this strategy. Recruitment is done a lot by word of mouth, she adds, and applications for admission for the winter of 2023 have increased by 80% in three years.
In its report, the BCI points out that the share of international students in the overall student population has increased from 15.6% last year to 17.4% this year. Nearly one in six students attending Quebec universities is therefore not Canadian or a permanent resident, underlines the organization.