Atlantic Canada university enrolment falls 1.9 %

Overall enrolment in undergraduate programs at universities in the Atlantic provinces has decreased again with 1,276 fewer full-time students enrolled this fall — a two per cent drop from last year.

Hardest hit is NSCAD University, which has 15.5 per cent fewer full-time students enrolled. The University of King's College is seeing an 8.4 per cent drop and Cape Breton University lost 6.1 per cent. 

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The Association of Atlantic Universities released preliminary numbers Thursday. This is the third consecutive year where full-time undergraduate enrolment in the region has shrunk. 

Part-time enrolment has also fallen by 461 students, a 6.6 per cent drop. It's the most substantial decrease in six years of declining numbers.

The only schools to see any boost in full-time enrolment are Université Sainte-Anne, which welcomed 15 per cent more full-time students, and Dalhousie, which saw a very modest increase.  

Elsewhere in the Maritimes, enrolment figures range from little change at Mount Allison University, with a 0.3 per cent decrease, to Université de Moncton, which suffered a 4.4 per cent drop. 

Memorial University in Newfoundland lost the most full-time undergraduate students of all Atlantic Canada universities at 209, a 1.7 per cent decline. But it also had the highest increase in part-time students at 6.6 per cent, or 131 students.

Overall, the number of graduate students studying in Atlantic Canada is up 3.8 per cent, an increase of 315 students. A large part of that was an increase at Memorial, which saw 197 more full-time graduate students.