Statistics Canada’s annual release on 1 October 2026 shows enrolments at Canadian public colleges and universities were nearly flat in the 2024/2025 academic year, while graduate counts rose substantially over a different period. The agency reported 2.3 million total enrolments, up 0.1%, or 3,174, from the previous year. International student enrolments fell 6.9%, a decline of 39,582; enrolments among Canadian students increased 2.1%, or 37,626. These movements occurred at the same time. The release does not provide a causal estimate that assigns the decline to one policy or factor.

Statistics Canada describes 2024/2025 as the first academic year reflecting year-over-year effects of federal policy changes announced in January 2024, including a temporary cap on new international study permits. That statement places the data in policy context; it does not, by itself, establish how much of the enrolment decline the cap caused. The agency also says international enrolments had been an important contributor to overall growth during the previous decade. Enrolments from China, however, had already been falling since 2020/2021, before the 2024 policy announcements. That earlier trend and differences among institutions and fields caution against a single-cause reading.

The decline was larger at colleges than at universities: international college enrolments fell by 22,323, or 7.7%, while university enrolments declined by 17,259, or 6.1%. At the same time, Canadian student enrolments rose by 16,647, or 2.7%, at colleges and by 20,976, or 1.8%, at universities. Ontario had the largest provincial declines in international enrolments: 28,875, or 13.6%, at colleges and 7,455, or 6.7%, at universities. British Columbia had the second-largest university decline, 5,346 or 10.6%; Manitoba had the second-largest college decline, 732 or 13.4%.

By country of citizenship, enrolments from India declined by 26,550, or 11.9%; those from China fell by 4,368, or 6.6%; and those from the Philippines fell by 3,654, or 18.6%. Together, students from these three countries accounted for 83.4% of the total decrease in international enrolments. Health care was a notable field-level exception: international enrolments increased by 1,524, or 6.9%, at colleges and by 309, or 3.0%, at universities. Business and administration recorded the largest falls, down 16,089 or 12.7% at colleges and 5,283 or 8.2% at universities. Canadian enrolments grew in several fields, including university engineering and mathematics, computer and information programs, and college health care and trades.

Graduate data cover calendar 2024, not the 2024/2025 enrolment snapshot. The number of graduates receiving a certificate, diploma or degree from a Canadian public postsecondary institution rose to 724,071, up 61,197 or 9.2% from 2023. The largest single contribution came from international college graduates, whose number increased by 44,328, or 31.3%. Canadian graduate counts also rose for the first time since 2021 at both colleges, by 6,534 or 3.8%, and universities, by 651 or 0.2%. The release’s two measures should not be treated as outcomes for the same cohort: one counts graduates over a calendar year, while the other is a fall-date enrolment snapshot.

By education level, 289,530 people graduated from short-cycle tertiary programs in 2024, compared with 229,176 from bachelor’s or equivalent programs. Short-cycle graduates outnumbered bachelor’s graduates for a second consecutive year. International graduates made up 55.5% of short-cycle graduates in 2024, compared with 7.5% in 2009. Statistics Canada says this pattern is consistent with earlier findings that some one-year programs can offer international students a faster route to eligibility for a post-graduation work permit than longer degrees. The figures alone do not establish why students chose a program or how policy changes affected graduate totals.

The measurement notes are essential. Enrolment counts use each institution’s single fall snapshot date, chosen between 30 September and 1 December, and count programs rather than unique students. A person registered in more than one program on that date can therefore appear more than once. Apprenticeship students are excluded. The snapshot can affect colleges more because they have continuous intake and shorter programs. Graduates, by contrast, are counted by calendar year. Statistics Canada says figures are rounded, table cells are randomly rounded to base three, some institution data are preliminary or estimated, and annual revisions can incorporate new submissions and classification or concept changes. Totals may not match component sums. The PSIS response rate was 96.8% in 2024/2025.