Enrollment in New Brunswick universities is on the downswing according to a new report from the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission.
The report shows 3.4-percent fewer students signing up in 2013-2014 than in 2012-2013.
The Commission says the time to discuss new strategies is now and CEO Mireille Duguay says one option is the recruitment of international students. She says Nova Scotia has invested heavily in that area and they’ve been able to increase their international student enrollment population by 100-percent over a decade while it has increased by 25-percent in New Brunswick which would suggest that N.B. has room to grow in that area.
Another aspect is the range of program offerings – and Duguay says they’re looking at programs in Liberal Arts, for example, that are offering more and more work-integrating components like placements and internships that will facilitate the transition of graduates into the labour market.
The report also shows that over the next decade the university-aged population in the Maritimes is expected to decline by 15-percent.
