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Study: Persistence in postsecondary education in Atlantic Canada

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2001/2002 to 2004/2005

Not all postsecondary students in Atlantic Canada remained at the same university or college until they graduated. Many of these students moved between institutions, and many others appeared to have temporarily suspended their postsecondary education for short periods.

Among students aged 17 to 20 who had enrolled in a university in the four Atlantic provinces during the fall of either 2002 or 2003, one-third (33%) had left their university within two years.

Of all the students who left, about 25% in fact switched to another institution to pursue their postsecondary studies. Of the remaining students who left, about one-quarter subsequently returned to school.

When switchers and students who left and then returned were removed from the count, the dropout rate among Atlantic universities during this period dropped from 33% to about 18%. Dropout rates in colleges and universities are overstated unless students who switch institutions, or who leave briefly and return, are taken into account.

For college students, the two-year institutional dropout rate was close to 35% among students aged 17 to 20 during this time period. However, once students who switched, or who returned later, were taken into account, the rate fell to about 29%.

The rate at which university students leave their studies is somewhat different by gender, with 28% of men leaving their studies compared with 22% for women. Among college students, the rates were almost identical for both genders, although higher than for universities.

Note to readers

Data for this study, which provides unique empirical evidence on postsecondary pathways in Atlantic Canada, came from a new database that tracks students across all colleges and universities in the region.

The Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) collects information on programs and courses offered at an institution, as well as information regarding the students themselves and the programs and courses in which they were registered, or from which they graduated.

In this subset, there were 18,100 university undergraduates and 8,600 community college students aged 17 to 20 who started a postsecondary education program at a publicly funded Atlantic institution in the fall of either 2002 or 2003.

PSIS is national in scope, however, the Atlantic is the first region to have all colleges and universities reporting to PSIS, and thus the first region within which a longitudinal study could be done.

Among bachelor students who left their studies during their first two years, 25% returned to postsecondary education. Of those who returned, half went back to the same institution. Another 5.8% stayed at the bachelor level, but returned to a different institution. A final 7.4% returned, but changed their level of study to the college level.

Among college students, 11.5% of those who left returned to postsecondary studies. Most of these students returned to the same institution at the college level. The remainder returned to their postsecondary studies, but entered university at the bachelor's level.

Many students who graduated from a postsecondary institution returned to school later. In fact, within three years of completing their first degree or diploma, 36.5% of those with a bachelor's degree and 30.3% of college graduates had enrolled in another postsecondary program.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5017.

The study "Moving through, moving on: Persistence in postsecondary education in Atlantic Canada, evidence from the Postsecondary Student Information System", 2001/2002 to 2004/2005 (81-595-MWE2009072, free), is now available as part of the Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics, Research Papers series, from the Publications module of our website.

For general information, to order the research paper, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-800-307-3382; 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-4441; educationstats@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.