George Brown College sees two per cent increase in enrolment compared to 2014

George Brown College’s St. James campus. Photo: courtesy of George Brown College

On Nov. 3, Colleges Ontario announced that student enrollment in Ontario’s colleges had reached a record-level with over 237,000 students pursuing full-time studies, a 2.4 per cent increase from 2014.

“It is more important than ever for people to get the professional and technical qualifications that help them pursue rewarding careers,” said Linda Franklin, president and chief executive officer of Colleges Ontario, in a press release. “We continue to see increasing numbers of students pursuing career-specific post-secondary programs at Ontario’s colleges.”

Jumping from less than 232,000 students in 2014, students are taking advantage of the over 600 different programs that are offered for a variety of fields; the number of university graduates who transitioned to college also increased by 50 per cent.

According Lisa Marchitto, corporate communications manager at George Brown College (GBC), 20,786 full-time students were enrolled at GBC as of Nov. 2, a two per cent increase from the same time the previous year.

With a growing number of students who are pursuing career-specific paths through the college system, first-year enrollment increased by 2.7 per cent this year with more than 133,000 students enrolling in first-year programs.

“Many students are finding the programs that best fit their strengths and career ambitions are offered at colleges,” said Franklin in the press release. “In this economy, students need to explore the full range of options and find the programs that best suit them.”