2017 Canadian Engineers for Tomorrow

Trends in Engineering Enrolment and Degrees Awarded 2013-2017

Message from the Chief Executive Officer

Engineers Canada is pleased to publish this year’s enrolment and degrees awarded report highlighting trends in post-secondary engineering education in Canada. This document comprises information on all academic terms from the calendar years 2013 through 2017.

Canadian post-secondary institutions continue to report a strong growth in undergraduate degrees awarded, presenting 23.3 per cent more engineering degrees in 2017 than in 2013. It is reassuring to see that every engineering discipline awarded more degrees in 2017 than in 2013, and that most engineering disciplines have experienced a growth in undergraduate enrolment numbers in the same period.

We are excited to report that the proportion of female students established new records in the categories of undergraduate and post-graduate enrolment, as well as undergraduate degrees awarded. As of 2017, women accounted for 21.8 per cent of undergraduate students and 25.7 per cent of post-graduate students, as well as 20.6 per cent of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded. We hope that these achievements will inspire engineering education and the engineering profession to break new records in the years to come.

Canadian engineering programs remain a popular choice for international students. In 2017, the number of undergraduate students reached 13,474 or 16.3 per cent of the total.

For the third consecutive year, Engineers Canada collected data regarding Indigenous students’ enrolment and degrees awarded. Similar to the female population in engineering programs, Indigenous peoples are still greatly underrepresented, accounting for just over 1.2 per cent of reported undergraduate students. This is around four times lower than the 4.9 per cent of Canadians who identify as Indigenous peoples (Statistics Canada, 2017).

Engineers Canada will continue to track this information in the coming years to identify trends and to further encourage enrolment and achievement by post-secondary engineering programs that reflect Canada’s diversity.

Gerard McDonald, MBA, P.Eng.
Chief Executive Officer

Acknowledgements

Engineers Canada gratefully acknowledges the contribution of data and information from the deans and associate deans of the engineering and applied science faculties at Canadian higher education institutions.

Cover Image Credit: Mikael Kristenson
Report By: Vinicius Rossi

Introduction

The Engineering Enrolment and Degrees Awarded Report is an annual examination of Canada's undergraduate and post-graduate engineering programs that evaluates trends in part- and full-time student enrolment and degrees awarded over a five-year period. In 2017, 51 universities provided information on their enrolment, programs, and degrees awarded.

The results highlight enrolment trends by discipline and institution, as well as the number of undergraduate and post-graduate degrees awarded each year. These results reveal trends specific to discipline, education, and gender, as well as the number of engineering graduates available to enter the labour market, international students’ participation in Canadian engineering education, and students studying in co-op programs. Enrolment trends in undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate levels are compared, along with men and women studying and graduating from engineering programs. For the third consecutive year, data regarding Indigenous peoples’ enrolment and graduation from engineering programs is presented in this report. Engineers Canada plans to continue this data collection in coming years to be able to identify emerging trends.

Data is provided by higher education institutions to Engineers Canada. Engineers Canada compiles the information in this report. Findings are then shared with Engineers Canada’s stakeholders and with the public. Engineers Canada greatly appreciates the contribution of these higher education institutions.

NOTE: When comparing data between years, only those higher education institutions who consistently responded to the survey year after year are included in the comparison. If an institution did not provide data in one or more of those years, they were not included in the comparison. This was done to ensure that the comparisons are fair and are as accurate as possible.

Undergraduate students

Total undergraduate student enrolment

Undergraduate student enrolment in accredited engineering programs totalled 82,480 in 2017. This is an increase of 14.4 per cent from 2013 and no significant change from 2016 was observed.

If engineering programs seeking accreditation—but not yet accredited—are included in the sum, total undergraduate enrolment rises to 83,953 students. Chart 1.1 illustrates undergraduate enrolment numbers for engineering institutions that consecutively replied to this survey since 2013.

Total undergraduate student enrolment by discipline

The most popular undergraduate engineering disciplines in 2017 were mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and electrical engineering, representing 22.1 per cent, 14.1 per cent, and 13.6 per cent of total undergraduate enrolment, respectively. On the other hand, the fields that accounted for the smallest proportion of undergraduate enrolment were geological engineering (0.8 per cent), materials or metallurgical engineering (1.1 per cent), and mining or mineral engineering (1.2 per cent).

Computer engineering (12.1 per cent), environmental engineering (11.2 per cent), and software engineering (8.9 per cent), presented the highest growth rate over the previous year. Likewise, the disciplines that experienced the largest cumulative growth from 2013 were software engineering (67.8 per cent), biosystems engineering (67.1 per cent), and computer engineering (56.7 per cent). Conversely, mining or mineral engineering (-22.5 per cent), geological engineering (-12.4 per cent), and materials or metallurgical engineering (-7.3 per cent) had the greatest rate of decline from the previous year. Additionally, only three disciplines presented a decline in enrolment since 2013: mining or mineral engineering (-25.8 per cent), geological engineering (-10.5 per cent), and materials or metallurgical engineering (-3.6 per cent). Once again, these comparisons were made between institutions that consecutively replied to the enrolment and degrees awarded survey since 2013.

Total undergraduate student enrolment by province

The highest proportion of undergraduate enrolment continues to belong to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In 2017, they accounted for 44.2 per cent and 25.6 per cent of total enrolment, respectively. Furthermore, Nova Scotia and Alberta underwent the largest percentage increase in enrolment from the previous year, with growths of 3.9 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively, over 2016.

The highest cumulative enrolment growths from 2013 were seen in Nova Scotia (28.7 per cent) and Ontario (22.9 per cent). On the other hand, New Brunswick (-15.0 per cent) and Alberta (-1.8 per cent) were the only provinces to experience a decrease in enrolment since 2013, while New Brunswick (-7.6 per cent), Saskatchewan (-3.0 per cent), and Quebec (-2.4 per cent) were the only ones to experience a decrease from the previous year.

Total undergraduate degrees awarded

The number of undergraduate degrees awarded totalled 15,782 in 2017. The number of undergraduate degrees awarded increased by 7.3 per cent from the previous year, characterizing a faster growth when compared to the average annual increase of 5.4 per cent for the period of 2013 to 2017. Cumulatively, the number of degrees awarded has increased 23.3 per cent from 2013. Once again, these comparisons were made between institutions that consecutively replied to the enrolment and degrees awarded survey since 2013.

Chart 1.5 shows that Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan witnessed the highest increases in undergraduate degrees awarded from 2016, with growths of 22.4 per cent, 11.2 per cent, and 10.8 per cent, respectively. Similarly, Manitoba, Ontario, and British Columbia experienced the highest increases in undergraduate degrees awarded from 2013, with growths of 66.8 per cent, 30.3 per cent, and 22.5 per cent, respectively.

No provinces experienced decreases in undergraduate degrees awarded from the previous year, while Newfoundland and Labrador was the only province to experience a cumulative decrease in undergraduate degrees awarded from 2013 (-22.2 per cent).

Mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and electrical engineering were awarded the greatest number of degrees in 2017, representing 25.3 per cent, 18.0 per cent, and 16.3 per cent of the total, respectively. Furthermore, biosystems engineering exhibited the largest growth in degrees awarded from both 2016 (22.4 per cent) and 2013 (83.6 per cent).

Even though environmental engineering (-16.8 per cent), materials or metallurgical engineering (-8.9 per cent), and mining or mineral engineering (-0.9 per cent) were the only disciplines to display decreases since 2016 in the number of undergraduate degrees awarded, every discipline saw an increase from 2013.

Graduate students

Total graduate student enrolment

Graduate student enrolment totalled 23,992 in 2017. When comparing institutions that consecutively replied to this survey since 2013, graduate student enrolment increased by 5.0 per cent from 2016 and 13.5 per cent from 2013, averaging a 3.3 per cent annual growth rate.

The province that displayed the highest growth in graduate enrolment over the previous year was Saskatchewan (15.2 per cent), while the one that displayed the highest cumulative growth since 2013 was Newfoundland and Labrador (51.8 per cent). The greatest decrease from both 2016 and 2013 was observed in New Brunswick at -13.6 per cent and -26.5 per cent, respectively.

Total post-graduate degrees awarded

A total of 6,844 master's and 1,713 doctorate of engineering degrees were awarded in 2017, for a combined sum of 8,557 post-graduate degrees awarded. This corresponds to a growth of 3.0 per cent in master's degrees awarded and 7.8 per cent in doctoral degrees awarded from 2016. Similarly, a cumulative growth of 22.6 per cent in master’s degrees awarded and 24.6 per cent in doctoral degrees awarded was seen from 2013.

New Brunswick displayed the fastest growth in the number of post-graduate degrees awarded from both 2016 (21.6 per cent) and 2013 (36.8 per cent).

Chart 1.10 indicates the average growth in master's degrees awarded by province for the periods of 2013 to 2017 and 2016 to 2017, while chart 1.11 indicates the same trends for doctoral degrees.

Female students

Female undergraduate enrolment

Female enrolment remained above 20 per cent in 2017, with a 0.9 percentage point increase from 20.9 per cent in 2016 to 21.8 per cent in 2017. This is the highest proportion of females enrolled in undergraduate engineering programs ever recorded by this report. The total number of females enrolled in undergraduate-level engineering programs has increased by 3.7 per cent since 2016 and 32.2 per cent since 2013.

Female undergraduate enrolment by discipline

The disciplines that presented the highest percentages of female undergraduate enrolment in 2017 were biosystems engineering, environmental engineering, and chemical engineering, with 47.5 per cent, 41.2 per cent, and 39.3 per cent of total enrolment, respectively. Four out of the five disciplines with the highest percentage of females enrolled were also four out of the five disciplines with the least number of undergraduate students enrolled (see Chart 2.2).

The disciplines with the lowest percentages of female undergraduate enrolment were mechanical engineering (14.2 per cent), software engineering (14.6 per cent), and computer engineering (14.8 per cent). While these three disciplines account for 55.1 per cent of the total number of undergraduate students, they only account for 23.5 per cent of the total number of female undergraduate students.

Furthermore, the disciplines that presented the highest growth in the proportion of females from 2016 were chemical engineering and materials or metallurgical engineering, which rose from 36.8 per cent and 31.6 per cent in 2016, to 39.3 per cent and 33.1 per cent in 2017, respectively. Similarly, the disciplines that presented the highest growth in the proportion of females from 2013 were again materials and metallurgical engineering and chemical engineering, which went from 24.5 per cent and 32.8 per cent in 2013, to 33.1 per cent and 39.3 per cent in 2017, respectively.

Female undergraduate enrolment by province

Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest percentage of female undergraduates (28.2 per cent), while Saskatchewan displayed the lowest percentage of female enrolment in 2017, with only 18.5 per cent in the undergraduate engineering student population. Seven out of the nine provinces considered experienced increases in female undergraduate enrolment from 2016, while eight out of these same nine provinces experienced increases from 2013.

Female undergraduate degrees awarded

Of the 15,782 engineering degrees awarded in 2017, 3,244 were awarded to women, accounting for 20.6 per cent of the sampled population. When comparing engineering programs that consecutively replied to this survey, increases of 11.9 per cent from 2016 and 34.7 per cent from 2013 were observed. Furthermore, this proportion is not suggestive of any significant gender differences in completion rates when compared to the 20.1 per cent average proportion of women in undergraduate enrolment over the past five years.

The province with the highest proportion of female undergraduate degrees awarded was Newfoundland and Labrador (27.6 per cent), followed by Nova Scotia (22.3 per cent), and Alberta (21.9 per cent). Moreover, Newfoundland and Labrador had the greatest increase in the proportion of female undergraduate degrees awarded when compared to 2016, with a growth of 10.4 percentage points overall.

The disciplines that had the highest growth over the previous year in the proportion of female undergraduate degrees awarded were that of environmental engineering (8.7 percentage points, going from 39.7 per cent in 2016 to 48.3 per cent in 2017) and biosystems engineering (3.3 percentage points, going from 42.5 per cent in 2016 to 45.8 per cent in 2017). Likewise, the categories that presented the highest growth from 2013 were that of environmental engineering (8.0 percentage points, going from 40.3 per cent in 2013 to 48.3 per cent in 2017) and industrial or manufacturing engineering (7.5 percentage points, going from 20.3 per cent in 2013 to 27.8 per cent in 2017).

The proportion of female undergraduate degrees awarded should experience a consistent growth in the coming years to the cumulative increase in the proportion of female undergraduate enrolment in many disciplines, as illustrated in Chart 2.3. This should be especially reflected in the disciplines of environmental engineering, industrial or manufacturing engineering, and chemical engineering.

Female graduate student enrolment

The proportion of females enrolled in post-graduate engineering programs continues to grow, reaching 25.7 per cent in 2017. When comparing institutions that consistently replied to this survey since 2013, an increase in proportion of 0.7 percentage points from 2016 and 2.1 percentage points from 2013 was observed.

The highest proportions of female post-graduate enrolment in 2017 were seen in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, with values of 28.5 per cent, 26.1 per cent, and 25.8 per cent, respectively.

Female post-graduate degrees awarded

The number of post-graduate degrees awarded to women in 2017 consisted of 1,740 master’s degrees and 401 doctoral degrees. When compared to 2016, this represented no significant changes in the number of master's degrees awarded or doctoral degrees awarded. However, when comparing institutions that consistently replied to this survey since 2013, the proportion of master's degrees awarded to women has decreased from 24.2 per cent in 2016 to 23.4 per cent in 2017, while the proportion of doctoral degrees awarded to women went from 17.2 per cent in 2016 to 15.7 per cent in 2017.

In 2017, the province with the largest percentage of master’s degrees awarded to women was Alberta, at 29.8 per cent, while New Brunswick had the greatest percentage of women receiving doctoral degrees, at 41.7 per cent. Conversely, Manitoba had the smallest percentage of master’s degrees awarded to women (14.6 per cent), while Nova Scotia displayed the smallest proportion of women who received doctoral degrees (12.5 per cent).

Foreign students

Foreign undergraduate enrolment

There were 13,474 international students enrolled in undergraduate engineering programs in 2017, accounting for 16.3 per cent of total enrolment. When comparing institutions that consecutively replied to this survey since 2013, foreign undergraduate enrolment increased by 0.5 per cent from the previous year, when international students corresponded to 16.2 per cent of total undergraduate enrolment, and 12.4 per cent from 2013, when international students corresponded to 14.8 per cent of total undergraduate enrolment.

Foreign undergraduate enrolment by discipline

Materials or metallurgical engineering and industrial or manufacturing engineering had the highest proportion of foreign students enrolled, at 29.4 per cent and 22.8 per cent, respectively. Conversely, the programs that displayed the lowest proportion of international students were geological engineering (8.1 per cent) and biosystems engineering (9.5 per cent).

Foreign undergraduate enrolment by province

Out of the 13,474 international students enrolled in undergraduate engineering programs in Canada in 2017, 42.5 per cent (5,729) studied in Ontario and 22.1 per cent (2,973) studied in Quebec. Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia displayed the highest proportion of international students enrolled at 10.0 per cent (61 students) and 6.5 per cent (692 students), respectively. The largest growth in international student enrolment over the previous year was found in Nova Scotia (13.2 per cent) and Newfoundland and Labrador (10.6 per cent).

Visa undergraduate degrees awarded

In 2017, 2,228 of the 15,774 undergraduate degrees were awarded to foreign students, representing 14.1 per cent overall. When comparing institutions that consecutively replied to this survey since 2013, the proportion of degrees awarded to international students experienced a growth of 0.9 percentage points from 2016 and 3.4 percentage points from 2013.

Foreign graduate student enrolment

Foreign post-graduate degrees awarded

In 2017, the number of master's degrees awarded to foreign students totalled 4,059 while the number of doctoral degrees awarded totalled 861. When comparing institutions that consecutively replied to this survey, visa master’s degrees awarded to foreign students increased by 2.9 per cent over the previous year and 70.5 per cent from 2013, while doctoral degrees awarded increased by 14.0 per cent over the previous year and 84.1 per cent from 2013.

The proportion of post-graduate degrees awarded to foreign students reached 59.3 per cent of all master's degrees and 50.3 per cent of all doctoral degrees in 2017. This represents a large growth from 2013, when the proportion of master's was 43.1 per cent and that of doctoral degrees was 27.2 per cent.

In 2017, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan had the greatest proportion of master's degrees awarded to visa students (79.2 per cent, 76.0 per cent, and 67.6 per cent, respectively). Similarly, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Alberta awarded the greatest proportion of their doctoral degrees to visa students at 76.5 per cent, 59.5 per cent, and 55.3 per cent, respectively.

Indigenous peoples’ enrolment and degrees awarded

Out of the 23 post-secondary institutions that responded to this survey about Indigenous peoples, 22 institutions were able to provide information on Indigenous peoples' undergraduate enrolment, while only 20 were able to provide information on undergraduate degrees awarded. The 22 institutions represent 44.2 per cent of undergraduate students enrolled in engineering programs across Canada, while the 20 post-secondary institutions represent 44.1 per cent of undergraduate degrees awarded. Furthermore, 20 institutions were able to present data on Indigenous enrolment in graduate programs, with only 18 of them presenting data on post-graduate degrees awarded. These 20 institutions represent 44.7 per cent of post-graduate students in Canada, whereas the 18 post-secondary institutions represent 41.8 per cent of post-graduate degrees awarded. As the reported numbers are of small magnitude, the data on Indigenous student enrolment is presented in a cumulative form to assure anonymity. While not all institutions are able to report the Indigenous identity of their students, Engineers Canada believes this data allows the engineering community to pursue conversations on increasing the representation of Indigenous peoples in engineering. Even if we cannot currently achieve a comprehensive and true representation of Indigenous peoples' enrolment and degrees awarded, this provides us with an important starting point.

While Indigenous peoples make up 4.9 per cent of the Canadian population (Statistics Canada, 2017), they only account for 1.2 per cent of total undergraduate enrolment in engineering programs and 1.2 per cent of undergraduate degrees awarded. Graduate student enrolment demonstrated lower enrolment of Indigenous peoples, at 0.4 per cent of total enrolment, while graduate degrees awarded represented 0.2 per cent of surveyed students.

Faculty members

There was a total of 3,990 full-time equivalent engineering faculty members in 2017. When comparing institutions that consecutively replied to this survey since 2013, the number of full-time equivalent faculty members remained nearly constant from 2016 and increased by 5.9 per cent from 2013.

The percentage of female faculty members has increased from 13.4 per cent in 2013 and 14.9 per cent in 2016, to 15.5 per cent in 2017. The faculty position with the highest percentage of females was that of assistant professors (23.0 per cent), whereas the position with the lowest percentage was that of professor (11.2 per cent).

As the number of female faculty members remains a small proportion of all faculties, Engineers Canada advises readers to use caution when drawing conclusions from year-to-year variation. Small inaccuracies in the reported data as well as changes in programming will affect the percentage presented in Chart 5.3.

Appendix A

Data found in the following tables can also be downloaded in Excel format.

Undergraduate Enrolment (U)

• U.1. National
• U.2. Provincial
• U.3. Institutional

Undergraduate Degrees Awarded (UD)

• U.1. National
• U.2. Provincial
• U.3. Institutional

Post-graduate Student Enrolment (G)

• U.1. National
• U.2. Provincial
• U.3. Institutional

Post-graduate Degrees Awarded (GD)

• U.1. National
• U.2. Provincial
• U.3. Institutional

Faculty Members by institution (F)

• F.1. Faculty Composition

Co-op, Internship, and Professional Experience Programs (C)

• C.1. Industry Experience Options by Institutions

Undergraduate Enrolment (U)

Undergraduate Degrees Awarded (UD)

Post-graduate Enrolment (G)