Is Enrolment Declining at KPU?

Provost Salvador Ferreras speaks out on how and why enrolment is slowing at KPU

Over the past half-decade, there has been a 5 per cent enrolment decrease in domestic full-time equivalent courses (FTE’s) at KPU, with one fifth of that accumulating over the past year. However, KPU Provost Dr. Salvador Ferreras deems that number “a really minimal decrease that would be statistically almost insignificant,” unless it continues to grow.

Rather, Ferreras believes it is “something that [he and his colleagues] watch and have to monitor so that it doesn’t become a trend.”

Ferreras attributes the enrolment decrease to the soaring price of living and KPU’s small class sizes, which may result in “a number of students not being able to take courses during the semester period that they may be planning to.” Because of the university’s collective agreement with their faculty union, they cannot accommodate over 35 students in each of their classes, leaving a few stragglers with less than a full course load. In reference to the high price of living, the provost believes that it is not preventing students from attending post-secondary so much as it is leading them to save money by taking fewer courses.

“The average number of credits across the board that students take in any given semester is now 9.2, 9.4, around there. That’s down from 10.2 maybe a couple years ago, so we still have a large number of students, but they’re taking fewer courses in order to either lighten their load,” he says.

As a result, the FTE enrolment rate is on a downturn, but the number of students attending KPU has actually grown; overall, there are also 4 per cent more students at KPU than there were in 2010, making the current population nearly 20,000 students.

Still, there has been an enrolment decrease in two faculties: academic and career preparation and the arts. The decrease in academic and career preparation can be explained by a change of policy that took place last year, which began demanding tuition for many previously free courses, therefore spurring an approximate 5 per cent drop in enrolment. Ferreras says that the reason why arts enrolment is decreasing is “unclear” and was unable to provide a confirmed percentage for how much it has shrunk, although he estimated it to be between 1-2 per cent.

Meanwhile, enrolment has been increasing in science and horticulture, up 16 per cent from last year, and business, up 14 per cent. Ferreras discloses that the boom in business is likely due to pre-existing student interest, whereas science and horticulture has welcomed new programs that have recently been getting attention from upper-year students.

“They were programs that were diplomas and are now degrees, and so there are more students moving into those upper levels,” he says. “And then some new programs, like the brewing program, are brand new and people are quite interested in them.”

At the same time as domestic FTE’s have been ebbing, international FTE’s have spiked. Over the past five years, they have grown by 70 per cent, with 5 per cent growth over last year. This rise is likely caused by KPU’s international recruitment in places like China, India, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as the United States, whose students may be attracted by the favourable exchange rate. Like with domestic students, business and science is very popular with them, as is an education in design.

While it seems the provost is not particularly concerned by the loss in domestic enrolment, he does note the measures that KPU goes to in order to keep it steady. For instance, they have changed admissions procedures so that students can declare a major later into their program instead of picking it at the beginning of their first year. They work towards providing advising support for students, particularly those transitioning from first to second year, to “give them the skills to be able to succeed” at university. Further, they have introduced three new post-baccalaureate programs, made the admission requirements for English more lenient, and started to offer “very fundamental trades training” to both aboriginal students and students with disabilities.

“These are all things that will inevitably have an impact on enrolment,” says Ferreras.