UNBC and the College of New Caledonia are at different ends of the spectrum when it comes to student enrolment.

UNBC Vice-President Academic and Provost Dr. Mark Dale told Vista Radio undergraduate numbers continue to lag.

“At the undergraduate level, both domestic and international are down somewhat but in both categories, graduate students are up.”

“If you look at the high school data, that trend should continue for a bit more, but on the other hand, our graduate students remain up and a big reason for that is because UNBC is a research-intensive university.”

Dale added international graduate students are up around 30%, while domestic grads spiked by 3%.

He expects these numbers to balloon even further as travel restrictions ease.

CNC (photo by MyPGNow.com staff)

“As you know, some of the travel restrictions are being lifted and so the hope is more of those students (international) will be able to come through before the beginning of the next term,” added Dale.

On the other hand, CNC Vice President of Student Affairs, Shelley Carter-Rose mentioned international enrolment has taken a big hit.

“There are two reasons for that. One, of course, is the pandemic where individuals were unable to travel because of travel bans but also because of their inability to get visas.”

However, interest in attending college remains high among young people around the world.

“The interest in the college is still very strong with applications and once students realize they couldn’t get visas for travel then a lot of them have asked to be deferred until the next term. When travel and visas are more readily available, we do expect the enrolment to come back.”

Carter-Rose added domestic enrolment has increased.

She expects the fall semester headcounts to be finalized once presented to the Board of Governors next month.