Canadian Council on Learning | Conseil Canadien sur l'Apprentissage

Full report: Post-secondary Education in Canada: Strategies for Success (PDF, 5.2 MB)

Report summary (PDF, 1.4 MB)

Part I:
Summary | In full (PDF, 3.9 MB)

Part II:
Summary | In full (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Part III:
Summary | In full (PDF, 459 KB)

Part IV:
Summary | In full (PDF, 1.4 MB)

There is unprecedented demand for post-secondary graduates in the job market. In the decade leading up to 2015, nearly 70% of the projected 1.7 million new jobs are expected to be in management or in occupations usually requiring post-secondary qualifications (university, college or apprenticeship training).
The growing skills shortage in the labour market will be exacerbated in the coming decade due to numerous trends, including: low apprenticeship-completion rates; limited portability of skills qualifications (only 13% of trades are Red Seal); and a 50% decline over the last decade in the percentage of new immigrants holding skilled-trade qualifications.
One-quarter of university-degree holders earn less than the average high-school graduate.

Canada’s proportion of gross expenditures on R&D (GERD) to GDP ranked 15th among 39 OECD countries in 2005, the same position held by Canada in 2001.
An international study of 11 OECD countries on degrees granted in technical areas shows that, despite Canada’s high educational attainment, it ranked 10th in the share of science and engineering degrees as a percentage of new degrees and ninth in PhDs in science and engineering as a share of graduates.
Currently, the field of scientific publications is dominated by scientists from the U.S., who produced 35% of publications in science and engineering between 1997 and 2001. Canada ranked sixth during this period, with 4.6% of total scientific publications.
Canada lacks an independent body— operating at arm’s length from PSE providers and their research services—that is charged with assessing the degree to which new knowledge generated by public universities is providing economic and social benefits to society.

Individuals with higher levels of education perceive themselves to be in better health.
The OECD’s 2006 Society at a Glance report found that, in general, the percentage of people reporting a high level of life satisfaction increases with the level of education.
The percentage of people donating to charities and the average amount donated both rise with levels of education: more than 90% of those holding a PSE certificate or degree donated in 2004.

Canada is one of the few advanced countries to lack a national quality-assurance agency.
The PSE sector is becoming increasingly complex, with the rise of private post-secondary institutions and the emergence of university colleges. There is a need to ensure that credentials earned will be recognized.
Canada has no mechanism to track what happens to students (and the public investment in their education) once they leave a post-secondary institution. For example, there is no comprehensive, national information about students who drop out, change courses, change institutions, or move from university to college.
A study on retention and attrition by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation (CMSF) found that 20% to 25% of first-year students do not proceed to second year. An additional 20% to 30% leave PSE in subsequent years.

As of 2004, Canada’s university attainment rate ranked fifth among OECD countries.
Canada lacks a comprehensive assessment of the sector’s capacity to meet the learning demands of students.
Pan-Canadian mechanisms do not exist for credit transfer or prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR).
Demographic projections indicate that PSE’s traditional age group (18–24) will peak in 2013 and decline over the following two decades.
The most significant barriers to access are informational and motivational, which are related to perceptions about the costs and benefits of PSE. These barriers were cited by 44% as the reasons for not attending PSE.
After being an early leader in the field of e-learning, Canada has been slower to incorporate online components into PSE programs. Canada lacks a national e-learning strategy.

The available data show a significant increase in PSE participation among Aboriginal people over the past 15-year period. Nonetheless, Aboriginal attendance and participation rates are still well below Canadian averages.
Enrolments both for men and women at university are at all-time highs, but female students now account for about 58% of bachelor-degree program enrolment. Males now constitute a new under-represented group. In 2004, 61% of all undergraduate degrees were earned by women.
Despite overall lower PSE participation rates for youth from lower-income families, the participation rate for youth attending college does not appear to be adversely affected by income. Youth from all quartiles have an equal propensity to attend college.

The PSE sector in Canada needs to improve how it responds to the requirements of non-traditional learners (e.g., older adults, recent immigrants, people with disabilities and Aboriginal people). Recognition of prior learning and acceptance of credentials earned in other provinces or countries would help increase access.
Working Canadians’ recurring need for education and training opportunities means that post-secondary institutions will have to forge stronger links with the workplace.
The emergence of regional labour markets underscores the need to reduce barriers to learner and worker mobility.
Other countries have been more successful than Canada in encouraging employer-supported training and lifelong learning.

Learners’ investments in post-secondary education are increasing more rapidly than the public rate of investment, indicating a shift in the financial burden toward the individual.
Tuition fees, which are not learners’ only costs associated with PSE, have increased at nearly four times the rate of inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) from 1990–1991 to 2004–2005.
The percentage of students requiring financial assistance has increased. The proportion of graduates who borrowed rose from 45% in 1995 to 56% in 2000 and 59% in 2006.
Between 2003 and 2006, the percentage of college students who accumulated more than $15,000 in debt increased from 17% to 29%.