About Canada's Universities
University a wise investment
Selecting a program and university has national impact
The Canadian University Guide provides prospective students and their parents with a wealth of information designed to facilitate wise investments in post-secondary education and generate great career opportunities. Making the right choice about career futures generates the best return on investment, and choosing the right university significantly impacts academic and student life experiences. And, while choosing the best and most affordable university is a significant issue for thousands of families each year, a driving motivator should also be where each graduate will fit into the future economy of Canada and the world!
Today Canada celebrates 89 universities with almost 1.2 million students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. This may sound impressive, however currently only 24.6 per cent of Canadians between 25 and 64 have successfully completed a university degree. And while 51 per cent of recent immigrants arrived with university credentials, in a highly competitive global economy Canada simply needs more people with post-secondary education. United States President John F. Kennedy famously said “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. In Canada, pursuing post-secondary education helps to build the country’s strength.
University graduates, as a group, earn more, on average, than college graduates do. And, if you measure the success of post-secondary education by career and salary success, university remains the preferred choice, though colleges are catching up in some fields.
The Conference Board of Canada, the foremost independent, not-for-profit applied research organization in Canada, helps to build leadership capacity for a better Canada. Through How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada, a multi-year research program to help leaders identify relative strengths and weaknesses in Canada’s socio-economic performance, The Conference Board evaluates countries based on six categories of performance: Economy, Innovation, Environment, Education and Skills, Health, and Society. In the most recent report Canada ranks 2nd among 17 peer countries in the Education category and 5th in the number of adults that have completed a university degree.
Our 24.6 per cent of adults with university degrees compares to 30.9 per cent for the United States and 31.9 per cent for Norway. The Conference Board asserts that “since 1998, Canada has earned a B for its university completion rate. While Canada’s completion rate grew from 18 per cent in 1998 to nearly 25 per cent in 2007, it is evidently not the only peer country with success in this area.
Canada must continue to increase its rate merely to maintain its ranking. If it wants to catch up to those at the top of the class, Canada will have to push for even more dramatic increases.” Most universities would acknowledge that there has been enrolment acceleration over the past few years, however getting accepted into some fields of study has become very competitive.
The Conference Board goes on to state that “governments have plenty of evidence that well-educated citizens are more actively engaged in society: they tend to make better choices about factors that affect their quality of life…and they earn higher incomes than those who are less educated. Less prominent in the mind of the public, but equally well-known among decision-makers, is the fact that well-educated and skilled people make important contributions to business innovation, productivity, and national economic performance. In an interconnected global economy, countries with more highly skilled workers have a distinct competitive advantage.”
Richard Florida, in The Rise of the Creative Class (New York: Basic Books, 2002), states that “studies of national growth find a clear connection between the economic success of nations and their human capital, as measured by the level of education”.
As Canadians agree that university education is good for both individuals and the nation, prospective students must carefully choose their field of study, their future career, and the level of investment they are prepared to make to generate returns over the course of their working life.
One challenge in making career projections is that today cannot predict tomorrow’s jobs. Our economic strengths are evolving, and learning at Canadian universities must also evolve to keep abreast of the changing nature of work. For example, information is today’s commodity, and rapid access to information drives economic growth and diversification. The manufacture and trade of goods, and provision of services, remain central to the new economy, often leveraged by new and innovative digital technology applications. Prospective students must choose careers knowing that learning to adapt in the workplace will be an essential ingredient for tomorrow’s personal success, above and beyond the details inherent in today’s curriculum.
Each individual should assess both their passion for a particular field of study and the career opportunities at the other end of the academic trail. The on-line government websites CanLearn and Working in Canada provide great links between careers and education, with ten year projections for the future of specific jobs.
Choosing the wrong program can postpone graduation, or worse. Approximately 15 per cent of undergraduate students abandon studies during or after first year. Ross Finnie from the University of Ottawa and Hanqing (Theresa) Qiu from Statistics Canada have collaborated on significant analyses of this drop out phenomenon in the Atlantic Provinces, while Dr. Peter Dietsche at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) offers similar analysis, revealing that one of the major factors affecting academic performance and persistence is program choice. Again, choosing the right academic program should be based on personal interest and academic ability as well as the desire to realize dreams. The CanLearn website offers a series of quizzes to help students assess individual abilities and preferences, and counsellors at high schools and universities can provide access to similar resources.
Choosing the right program and university demands research and reflection; The Canadian University Guide provides insight and information to help motivate good choices. You will find advice about high demand professions, campus life, creating a portfolio to help you compete for the spot you want, and how to budget and survive your university investment. Add to that advice from faculty, staff and student experts, and we trust that the Canadian University Guide will help you choose the right career and the right university – making a great future contribution to Canada and the world.