NBCC Fall Term Enrolment Increases More Than 8%

International growth has increased enrolment at the New Brunswick Community College (NBCC).

The college recorded an increase of more than eight per cent for the 2022-23 fall term.

“We certainly want to see more people coming to New Brunswick, and often education is the gateway to settlement and we’re happy to play that role,” mentioned Mary Butler, president and CEO of NBCC.

Butler brought up that NBCC also has a strong interest in seeing more New Brunswickers access post-secondary education.

For the last decade, the college has seen a decline in domestic enrolment, however, NBCC saw a slight increase in domestic enrolment during the 2021-22 academic year.

“We were up nearly five per cent, and so we were excited, but it was the first time we saw that increase, this year (2022-23) we didn’t quite hit those numbers, so we’re working on targeting our rural and remote learners who are more under-represented in post-secondary education,” continued Butler.

The college is also developing its first Strategic Enrolment Management plan to identify potential learners and how best to recruit them, along with how to support their retention and graduation.

“We have the plan to seek out and address learners, find out what their barriers are and try to address those, so right now we are under a fundraising campaign to find financial supports for students, where finances are a barrier,” said Butler.

She added that the college is also working with communities and different organizations on housing strategies.

“The average age at the college is 26 with a median of 35, so we have a lot of mature students coming to us with families, so finding appropriate housing, and having transportation are important and make a difference to people’s decisions to pursue post-secondary education.”