In its latest report from 2006 census, Statistics Canada has revealed that country had the most degrees, diplomas and certificates, in terms of university and college education combined, among all OECD countries. Released on March 4, 2008, this report actually sixth in series and focuses on labor, occupation, workplace, mode of transportation, language of work and education.
Here in this part, few interesting figures of this report are being presented to help you know the Educational Portrait of Canada:
- The number of Canadians between the ages of 25 and 64 who chose to get a university degree has risen by 24 per cent since 2001. The biggest increase was in the number of adults who had a master’s degree.
- Among 17,382,100 Canadian in the age group of 25 to 64, some 33 per cent of women held a university degree compared to 25 per cent of men in 2006, although that number just about evens out in the 35- to 44-year old age group.
- Overall 26 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 who lived in an urban setting in 2006 had a university degree, compared to 11 per cent of university graduates living in rural communities.
- Rural communities, on the other hand, had a larger proportion of their population educated in trades. About 17 per cent of rural residents had a trade certificate, compared to 11 per cent of urban Canadians.
- Majority of the university graduates are concentrated in Canada’s 16 out of 33 Census Metropolitan Area (CMAs), where this figure has surpassed the national average of 23 per cent. Ottawa-Gatineau topped the list with 35 per cent of its population are university graduates. The nation's capital region was followed closely by Toronto, where university graduates represented 34 per cent of the population and then Calgary and Vancouver, both at 31 per cent.
- The most popular field of study for male and female post-secondary students was business, management and marketing with one out of every five students choosing to study these areas. Approximately 1,357,200 women graduated in these fields compared to just over 801,600 men.
- The smallest increase was in the number of people choosing to get a degree in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or optometry.
- 51 per cent or 349,800 of “recent immigrants” (arrived between 2001 and 2006) to Canada hold a significantly higher number of university degrees than the Canadian-born population that is just 20 per cent in comparison. Among immigrants who settled in Canada prior to 2001, 28 per cent had a university degree.
- Of recent immigrants, 25 per cent hold a degree in engineering, 19 per cent in business, management, marketing and related support services, and 6 per cent in computer and information sciences.
- Almost 40 per cent of these recent immigrants hold a master’s degree while 49 per cent were PhDs qualified.
- 16 per cent of doctorate or master’s degree holders earned their degrees in Canada, while around 14 per cent got it in the United States. Another 14 per cent studied in India and 10 per cent earned their doctorate or master’s degree in China.
- An increasing trend of inter-provisional migration in university degree holders showed that about 33 per cent of the highly educated adults were moved to another province or territory between 2001 and 2006.
- Alberta benefited the most from this inter-provincial migration with the largest inflow, approximately 28,000, of post-secondary graduates, while Ontario suffered the biggest outflow of this educated workforce.
- In New Brunswick, just 53 per cent of the adult population aged 25 to 64 were post-secondary graduates in 2006 that is the lowest number of all the provinces.
- Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest number of adults in that age category with a university degree and the highest proportion of adults who did not have a high school diploma.
- Nova Scotia had the highest proportion of adults, about 20 per cent, aged 25 to 64 with a university degree.
- Prince Edward Island had the most college diplomas, at 24 per cent.
- In Quebec, about 18 per cent of the adult population had a trades certificate, the largest proportion of all provinces and territories.
- Ontario had the highest proportion (26 per cent of the adult population) of university graduates among the provinces, partly because of the high number of immigrants who settle in that province.
- Of all the provinces, British Columbia had the highest proportion that studied outside of Canada.
