Notice of release
Québec, June 20, 2023. – In Québec, in 2020, while the COVID-19 pandemic was disrupting study conditions, 61,974 diplomas were granted at the bachelor’s level or higher—2,895 fewer than in 2019. The number of degrees granted was down 4.3% and stood at:
- 39,249 at the undergraduate level (-2.6%)
- 13,842 at the master’s level (-8.3%)
- 2,016 at the doctoral level (-7.9%)
In the same year, in Ontario, the total number of degrees granted rose by 2.3%. This was revealed in the bulletin Les diplômés des niveaux baccalauréat et supérieur de 2020 released by the Institut de la statistique du Québec, which mainly focuses on university graduates, particularly in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM).
Detailed data broken down by field of study show that:
- The proportion of degrees granted in STEM is lower in Québec than in Ontario at the undergraduate level, but the situation is reversed at the graduate level.
- 2% of undergraduate degrees granted in STEM in Québec are in engineering and engineering technology, while in Ontario, the largest share is in science and science technology (47.2%).
- In Québec and Ontario, a much larger proportion of men than women obtain degrees in STEM, regardless of the level of study.
- From 2011 to 2020, in Québec, the share of international students among STEM graduates rose from 14.3% to 32.0%, which is nearly twice their share among graduates in all fields of study (18.3%).
- About two in three international students who obtained a master’s degree in STEM were in the engineering and engineering technology field in 2020, in both Québec and Ontario.
This analysis is based on data from Statistics Canada’s Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS). It aims to present the situation in Québec and compare it to that in Ontario.