CCL Home > Reports & Data > Post-secondary Education > PSE 2006
Report resources
Canada consistently ranks in the top three OECD countries in terms of participation rates, educational attainment and investment in post-secondary education (PSE) as a percentage of GDP, indicating that a higher education is relatively accessible in Canada.
In Canada, as in other jurisdictions, PSE participation rates have risen consistently since the Second World War. This trend has resulted from many factors. The demand for advanced education and skills has increased significantly. In response, provincial and federal governments have introduced policies to enhance access through such measures as: student financial assistance (both general and targetted to specific groups); building educational institutions outside of major metropolitan areas; increasing capacity at existing institutions; and offering programs to enhance students’ preparedness for PSE (literacy and transition programs). Technological advances also offer a wide array of options for alternative and enhanced PSE delivery to Canadians, no matter where they live.
Despite these advances, many Canadians cite concerns about access to PSE and its flexibility in responding to their needs. This is a particular concern among working-age adults, members of under-represented groups, and people living in rural and remote regions. Without enhanced access to PSE, Canada will find it increasingly difficult to replace its aging workforce, and there will continue to be a gap between the projected 70% of jobs requiring post-secondary qualifications and the proportion of working-age Canadians who possess such qualifications. Ensuring equitable access to learning opportunities, and developing the necessary flexibility to accommodate learners of all backgrounds and ages, will be vital to respond to Canada’s growing labour and skills shortages.
To maintain Canadians’ high standard of living and quality of life in the 21st century, Canada needs to accelerate and coordinate, on a national basis, activities and initiatives to increase access to PSE and develop consistent measures to gauge progress. For example, there is a need to improve the national coordination of distance and E-learning programs. Canada was an early leader in online learning, but has failed to make the investment necessary to coordinate and advance E-learning across the country.
Canada also lacks a standard credit transfer system between post-secondary institutions—both within a province and across the country. The inability of students, in many cases, to receive appropriate recognition for completed studies, if they transfer from one institution to another, poses a significant barrier to student mobility and may result in unnecessary costs and inefficiencies for learners and PSE generally. To monitor mobility, Canada should implement a national system of student identifiers that would allow information to be gathered on how students move through the post-secondary system.
Canada would also benefit from standard practices for prior learning assessment and recognition. Some post-secondary institutions, especially universities, have been slow to adopt flexible admissions standards that recognize informal and experiential learning. Standardized prior learning assessment could be particularly helpful in encouraging adults to pursue ongoing learning, because it recognizes the learning acquired through workplace training, informal programs and life experience, as well as the learning acquired through formal education.
A further challenge is the lack of current data, particularly related to Canadian colleges. These data, which have been collected but not analyzed since 2000 because of a lack of resources, should be regularly analyzed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of barriers to PSE access. Canada will need this and other up-to-date information on all post-secondary institutions in order to participate fully in international comparison exercises, such as those conducted by OECD. Without these data, international comparisons are dated and of limited use.
Finally, Canada should put in place national measures of institutional capacity to support efficient and effective planning for future needs. Analysis of anticipated student demand against institutional capacity would further determine if there are barriers or mismatches.
Top