Exploring BC Post-Secondary Students' Interprovincial Mobility with Statistics Canada Data - Prepared for BCCAT by Iain Wilson, Tiffany MacLennan and Alex Usher - September 2025

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James

Examines the availability and reliability of Statistics Canada data for assessing interprovincial student mobility among BC post-secondary students. The report defines a data request for full-time first-time enrollees in British Columbia during the 2015/16 cohort and identifies those still appearing in PSIS in subsequent years. Findings show limited movement after four years: 384 of 21,111 students appeared in another province, mainly Alberta and Ontario. It also details key limitations around transfer status, destination study type, dropout versus casual education, and timing or program inclusion.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Summary

Method

Limitations

Original Cohort

Findings from the 2015/2016 Cohort

Implications

Exploring BC Post-Secondary Students' Interprovincial Mobility with Statistics Canada Data Prepared for BCCAT by Iain Wilson, Tiffany MacLennan and Alex Usher, Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA) September 2025 Exploring BC Post-Secondary Students' Interprovincial Mobility with Statistics Canada Data Prepared for BCCAT by Iain Wilson, Tiffany MacLennan and Alex Usher, Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA)© BCCAT September 2025 This report is available at: www.bccat.ca/publication/InterprovincialMobilityStatsCan Scan below to view online: BC COUNCIL ON ADMISSIONS & TRANSFER TEL: 604.412-7700 EMAIL: info@bccat.ca WEBSITES: bccat.ca | [bctransferguide.ca](bctransferguide.ca) Summary Responding to the BCCAT call to explore availability and reliability of Statistics Canada data for assessing interprovincial student mobility, HESA was commissioned to define a data request to Statistics Canada. We requested data on students who enrolled full-time for the first time at post-secondary institutions in British Columbia in the 2015/16 cohort. Statistics Canada flagged all records of students who still appeared in the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) database in consequent years. This reflected students who started their journeys at a public college or university in British Columbia (BC) and then transferred to another province or left the system. Statistics Canada can provide robust data on outflows of students from British Columbia to other Provinces and Territories. Extracting the data took some time but the process could be repeated more quickly in the future as the data structure has been set up. The data analysed included students who were enrolled full-time at a British Columbian public college or university and later enrolled at a post-secondary institution in another province. Our analysis shows that relatively few BC students in the defined 2015/16 cohort moved to colleges or universities in other provinces. Of 21,111 students, 384 students appeared in Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) in another province after four years. They overwhelmingly went to Alberta and Ontario. Not all of these were ‘transfer’ students as such. The available data does not allow us to distinguish which of these students received transfer credit when they moved, and we do not have details on what kind of studies they pursued in the destination province. The dataset may contain students who dropped out of full-time study and pursued casual education (for example, they began as undergraduates in British Columbia, moved to a non-graduate job in Ontario and started taking a single bookkeeping course in the evening) . The way in which the data was compiled may also mean students in apprenticeship programs and students who did not enrol at conventional times in the Fall semester were not included. Table of Contents Method................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Limitations .................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Original Cohort .................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Findings from the 2015/2016 Cohort ............................................................................................................................4 Year One...................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Year Four .................................................................................................................................................................

FAQs

What data request did the authors prepare for BCCAT?

They defined a Statistics Canada data request for students who enrolled full-time for the first time at post-secondary institutions in British Columbia in the 2015/16 cohort.

What were the main findings about BC students moving to other provinces?

After four years, relatively few BC students in the 2015/16 cohort moved: 384 of 21,111 appeared in another province in PSIS, overwhelmingly going to Alberta and Ontario.

Why is it hard to determine whether students were true transfer students?

The dataset does not allow distinguishing whether students received transfer credit when they moved, nor does it include details on what studies they pursued in the destination province.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James