Carleton’s enrolment numbers have continued to increase, putting them 1.6 per cent ahead of the provincial average.
The university has gained around 3.6 per cent additional full-time first-year students for the 2017-18 academic year, according to Suzanne Blanchard, Carleton vice-president (students and enrolment).
According to Carleton’s website, there were 25,530 undergrad students and 4,043 graduate students in the 2016-17 academic year.
This growth in the number of enrolled students spread across a variety of programs, including significant increases of 38 per cent in psychology, 16 per cent in health sciences, and 23 per cent in law and legal studies, Blanchard said in an email.
This follows a trend of growth for the school over the last 10 years, in which the Carleton student body has grown by 18 per cent, with 18 per cent and 36 per cent increases at the Master’s and PhD levels respectively, according to Carleton’s website.
Bruce Winer, the vice-president of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning (OIRP) at Carleton, said 2017-18 enrolment figures fit into a continuing trend.
“At both the graduate and undergraduate level, we’re seeing modest growth,” Winer said.
According to Winer, Carleton’s growth tops the provincial average of two per cent. Blanchard said a variety of factors are driving Carleton’s increased enrollment figures.
“As our new President [Alastair Summerlee] has noted, Carleton is often referred to as a ‘hidden gem’,” Blanchard said. “We really believe in everything that Carleton offers and so our recruitment efforts over the years have focused on telling the Carleton story and getting students as excited about the university as we are.”
Blanchard also said increased enrolment numbers could be attributed to the variety of new interdisciplinary programs offered at the school—38 per cent more than a decade ago, according to the Carleton website—as well as access to opportunities such as co-op, hands-on experience, and experiential learning programs.
“We have seen a growth in the academic programs we are offering including new degree programs in Health Sciences, Global and International Studies, Media Production and Design as well as majors and concentrations in Photonics and Laser Technology, Mobile Computing and combined degrees in Journalism and the Humanities,” she said. “Carleton has continued to expand its services for students adding resources like mentor programs, new residence programming and early warning initiatives.”
Mark Robinson, the manager of financial aid at Carleton’s Awards Office, said that in the 2016-17 academic year about 11,700 awards totalling more than $19.5 million were awarded to undergraduate students, up from the previous year.
As award assessment continues throughout the academic year, no comparable figure exists yet for 2017-18, Robinson said.
While official statistics for this year aren’t in yet, Robinson said, “I do anticipate an increase in line with the overall enrolment increase.”
Winer added that Carleton is holding its own.
“Carleton is one of the few universities that’s seen this sustained growth,” he said.
Graphic by Mariam Abdel-Akher
