SASKATOON – Officials at the University of Saskatchewan announced Tuesday that they have met their fall enrolment targets. There were 19,754 undergraduate and graduate students attending classes on the first day of the 2015-16 school year, an increase of 0.6 per cent from the previous year.
Of those, 2,072 were self-declared aboriginal and 2,238 were international students.
“Attracting and retaining motivated aboriginal and international students is a priority for us,” said Patti McDougall, the vice-provost of teaching and learning.
READ MORE: Aboriginal graduates at University of Saskatchewan increasing
McDougall stated the Saskatoon-based university expects the number of aboriginal students to increase and are looking to develop and maintain effective programs and services to support them.
“New intercultural gathering spaces like our under-construction Gordon Oakes Redbear Student Centre, will be a safe and welcoming place that respects the diversity of all people, and will play a large role in the retention of our diverse student body.”
One college that experienced a big jump in enrolment is the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, with an 11.5 per cent jump in the number of students this fall.
Mary Buhr, the dean of the college, partly attributed the increase to its hands-on learning experience.
“Our students see the real-world benefit our programs offer, and even before they graduate, they are learning the inner workings of the multi-billion dollar industries that are agriculture and agri-food,” stated Buhr.
McDougall said that with enrolment and diversity targets being met, it is now time to set new goals.
“With a new president coming in and the end of our third integrated plan, now is the ideal time to start thinking about what size of an institution we want to be in the next 10 to 20 years,” said McDougall.
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