Very little interest from Ontario high school students in 5 UOF programs

The Université de l’Ontario français’ bachelor’s degree in business administration, as well as the university’s four founding programs, is not attracting crowds: only one Ontario high school student has accepted an offer so far this year for one of these five programs.

The data is included in the most recent report from the Ontario University Application Center (OUAC). They do not include applications for admission and accepted offers for the Bachelor of Education, the most popular at the institution. This data is collected differently.

As of May, theUOF issued around a hundred offers of admission to the baccalaureate in education. The 80 places authorized by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities have therefore all been filled. All students will be Canadian.

As for the establishment’s five other programs, whose data is published by theOUACthe number of applications for admission from all students — whether from Ontario or elsewhere — is down compared to the same period last year.

As of June 5, theUOF received 861 applications for admission to these programs, compared to 1,245 at the same date in 2023, a drop of almost 31%. The number of students who accepted an offer fell by around 44%.

Claire Francoeur, the university’s director of marketing strategy and notoriety, explains by email that high school students still have Several weeks to choose theUOF for the next school year, which will take place in September.

According to Ms. Francoeur, the decrease in acceptance of offers from students from outside Ontario is due in particular to inflation, which reduces the budget of candidates from abroad, to Ottawa’s measures limiting the number of foreign students and the shortage of affordable housing in the country.

The Ministry of Colleges and Universities UOF in promotion, marketing and program development to increase its student population”,”text”:”recognizes the continued efforts made by UOF in promotion, marketing and program development to increase its population student”}}”>recognizes the continued efforts made by theUOF in terms of promotion, marketing and program development to increase its student populationsaid Minister Jill Dunlop’s spokesperson.

These efforts include creation of programs aligned with the needs of the labor marketsaid the minister’s spokesperson, Brooke Campbell.

Not great news

The president of the Fédération de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne (FESFO), Haïfa Zemni, affirms that these data do not represent a super good news for young people from the French-speaking community.

It reiterates the need to seek out young people, to understand their needs, to understand why they do not registersaid Haifa Zemni in an interview.

The student representative observes that the most popular programs among students her age are science and mathematics. Data from recent years confirm the phenomenon.

According to a recent report from the Toronto firm Higher Education Associatesthe number of registrations in university arts and humanities programs fell by 27% between 2010-2011 and 2020-2021.

During the same period, registrations in engineering jumped by 42% and those in health by 26%, noted the same report.

François Hastir, the general director of the Franco-Ontarian Student Regroupment, which represents Franco-Ontarian post-secondary students, says he concerned by recent data from OUAC.

This reminds us of the fact that when this Université de l’Ontario français project was set up, our organization said that it was very important, that these programs had to be attractive to students. , and then there are perhaps some reflections to be made at this level obviouslysays François Hastir.

The Assembly of the Francophonie of Ontario declined an interview request.