Study examines composition and career decisions of Canada's graduate students

A major new statistical study may shed light on growing concern over Canada's post-secondary graduation rates at the master's, doctoral and post-doctoral levels and their relatively low absorption into the private sector. Produced by Statistics Canada's Tourism and Centre for Education Statistics division, the report contains a wealth of data on where graduate students go once they complete their studies, their income levels and differences in employment among disciplines.

The issue has been raised by several organizations including the Council of Canadian Academies, the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

Compared to the OECD, Canada lags in the production of graduates, although the rate of graduation experienced an upswing between 2003 and 2008 (the latest year for which data are available). In its State of the Nation 2008 report, STIC reported that Canada ranked 20th within the OECD in the number of new PhDs per million, as of 2006.

The StatsCan report — Expectations and Labour Market Outcomes of Doctoral Graduates from Canadian Universities — draws from two data sources, the Survey of Earned Doctorates and the National Graduates Survey. It provides a multi-faceted snapshot of the composition of Canadian degree holders that may offer assistance to policy makers tasked with boosting the overall rate of graduates and under-represented segments of the population.

It also includes data on the number of graduates who move to the US upon graduation and how many stay. In 2005, one fifth of PhD graduates indicated they intended to leave Canada, mostly to the US. The number of PhDs who actually relocated to the US is far lower (12%), although it was far higher than those with master's degrees (2.1%) and bachelor degrees (1.3%). Two-thirds of PhD holders were male and 30% were single.

PhD graduates who held degrees in the natural sciences were far more likely to emigrate than those in the health professions and related clinical sciences (see chart). Quality of research infrastructure and commitment to research were the most commonly cited factors for emigrating. Approximately 90% had jobs waiting for them when they arrived. However, more than 80% of graduates living in the US in 2007 said they intended to return to Canada.

Following graduation, the majority of degree holders (56%) were employed in educational services, with 87% working in a university. Other industries that employed a substantial number of graduates are: professional, scientific and technical services (13%), health care and social assistance (13%), public administration (7%) and manufacturing (4%).

Of the 4,200 doctorate graduates in 2005, 3,500 remained in Canada. Life sciences accounted for nearly 30% of PhD holders and 46% of all doctoral grads were women. Female representation was lowest in engineering (17%) and computer, math and physic sciences (26%).

English and French-speaking graduates accounted for 67% of the total while 8% reported Chinese as their mother tongue. The percentage of graduates speaking neither English nor French skyrocketed in certain disciplines, namely engineering (64%) and computer, math and physical sciences (37%).

However, two years after graduation, the vast majority of foreign-born doctoral grads (91%) were naturalized or became Canadian citizens.

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