MPHEC: NS university enrolment declines for first time since 2008
Posted Jan 28, 2016 07:05:46 AM.
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HALIFAX – The Maritime Province’s Higher Education Commission says Nova Scotia’s university enrolment is on the decline for the first time since 2008.
MPHEC’s CEO, Mireille Duguay, said the first challenge, that’s been spreading throughout Atlantic Canada, is demography.
“In Nova Scotia we’re starting to see the effect of the shrinking pools of 18 to 24-year-old’s, the other two jurisdictions we work with, New Brunswick and PEI, started to experience this a few years ahead,” said Duguay.
There are other contributing factors, according to Duguay, like diversification of offers from universities and post-secondary institutions, with less academic programs and more hands-on programs at colleges and technical schools.
Despite expected tuition increases, Duguay said she doesn’t believe it will contribute in a further drop in enrolment, because the value of having a post-secondary degree offsets any rise in cost.
She called the decline in university enrolment “a community problem,” adding it could have a negative impact on the economy if you lose the ability to develop initiative and solutions to old and new problems alike.
