Inter-Provincial Migration - Students (Additional Question)

Question

Hi all,

This is a similar question to previously asked, but I thought I'd give it a shot to see if there might be a special publication or another source I might be missing.

I have a researcher looking for data on student mobility between the Canadian provinces in the past 10 years. She's specifically interested in students from Atlantic Canadian provinces who migrate to other Atlantic provinces for university purposes.

I'm fairly certain universities themselves have this data through their registration records, but is there anything else I can suggest?

Answer

The following Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) table may be of interest: University enrolments, by province of residence of study, annual (number), 1992/1993 to 2008/2009. It shows the province in which the student resided when they first applied to university crossed by the province they are studying in and is available on the DLI FTP or the DLI website at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/psis-siep-eng.htm. (I asked our education contacts about this table and they indicated that it could be helpful but also mentioned that one of the variables is sometimes not well-reported, and that its use may be limited.)

Our education contacts also indicated that the National Graduates Survey (NGS) includes variables that could be used to study student mobility. The NGS was however only conducted in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005 and the researcher would need to apply for access through a RDC or submit a request for custom (fee based) data because the variables of interest aren't on the public use microdata file. Our contacts also explained that "The NGS survey is using graduating students only (students who graduated and left the province and completed a diploma), more specifically: Among all of the graduates who lived in the Atlantic provinces before studying, who graduated in 2005, x% left the Atlantic provinces and x% did not."

I hope that this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions.