trends-2011-vol1-enrolment-e
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trends-2011-vol1-enrolment-e
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In addition to those registered in foreign universities, a growing<br />
number of students are pursuing study abroad experiences with<br />
credits accumulating at their Canadian university. In 1997, roughly<br />
one percent of full-time students enrolled in Canadian universities<br />
were participating in some kind of study abroad experience. By<br />
2005-2006, AUCC estimates indicated that there had been some<br />
growth, and more than two percent of Canadian students were<br />
participating in a study abroad experience.<br />
Aboriginal students<br />
Information about Aboriginal Canadians enrolled on university<br />
campuses comes from a variety of sources, as there is no single<br />
group which gathers comprehensive information about Aboriginal<br />
students. Using data from the Canadian University Survey Consortium<br />
(CUSC), 10 AUCC estimates that there are between 20,000 and<br />
25,000 Aboriginal students in Canadian universities, and that the<br />
number of Aboriginal students has been growing at the same rate<br />
as overall student numbers over much of the last decade. In 2002,<br />
Aboriginal students represented approximately three percent of<br />
all undergraduate students, a share they have maintained since 2002.<br />
Given the lack of comprehensive information, AUCC is unable to<br />
describe all the characteristics of the Aboriginal university student<br />
body in detail. However, Census data does provide some useful<br />
information about the educational profile of Aboriginal Canadians.<br />
In 2006, less than eight percent of Aboriginal Canadians between<br />
the ages of 25 and 64 – or 43,000 university graduates – had a<br />
university degree. Within this group, 36,000 Aboriginal Canadians<br />
have undergraduate or professional degrees, of which 65 percent<br />
are women. Approximately 5,800 Aboriginal Canadians have a<br />
master’s degree and 1,100 have a doctoral degree. Fifty-five percent<br />
of Aboriginal Canadians with a master’s degree are women and<br />
48 percent of Aboriginal PhD graduates are women. A strong<br />
majority of Aboriginal students have studied in education, social<br />
and behavioural sciences and business.<br />
Table 1 demonstrates the growth in attainment rates for Aboriginal<br />
Canadians compared to non-Aboriginal Canadians over the 25-year<br />
period from 1981 to 2006. In 1981, only two percent of Aboriginal<br />
Canadians aged 25-to-64 had a university degree, compared to<br />
8.1 percent of non-Aboriginal Canadians of the same age. During<br />
the next 25 years, the attainment rate of Aboriginal Canadians<br />
increased to 7.7 percent, while the attainment rate for non-Aboriginals<br />
increased to 23.4 percent, generating a larger gap in attainment rates<br />
between Aboriginal Canadians and non-Aboriginal Canadians.<br />
TABLE 1: The gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal university<br />
attainment rates is widening<br />
Proportion of the population with a university degree<br />
Year Aboriginal Non-Aboriginal<br />
1981 2% 8.1%<br />
1991 2.6% 11.6%<br />
1996 4.2% 15.5%<br />
2001 5.9% 20.1%<br />
2006 7.7% 23.4%<br />
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census<br />
AUCC<br />
Trends in Higher Education | Volume 1. Enrolment | 19