The Changing Profile of Full-Time Faculty at Canadian Universities - Statistical Overview

Oct 15, 2026

Canadian universities expanded rapidly from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, then entered the early 1980s with uncertainty driven by government financial restraints, enrollment growth, and a shift toward professionally oriented programs. These pressures reshaped the socio-economic profile of roughly 33,000 full-time university teachers, including age, sex, academic rank, salary, citizenship, and qualifications. The statistical series documents changes in demand and supply patterns of doctoral recipients to provide a base for policy analysis.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

FULL-TIME UNIVERSITY TEACHERS

AGE STRUCTURE

TABLES

# The Changing Profile of Full-TimeFaculty at Canadian Universities MAX VON ZUR-MUEHLEN* ## ABSTRACT Canadian universities underwent a remarkable expansion from the late sixtiesuntil the mid-seventies.However,they are entering the eighties on an uncertainnote,due to financial restraints imposed by governments,the sudden growth inuniversity enrolment and the shift to professionally oriented programs.Thesedevelopments have had an impact on the socio-economic characteristics of the 33,000 full-time university teachers:their age,sex,academic rank,salary,citizen-ship,and qualifications.Especially uncertain is the demand for new faculty inthis decade and the implications for the health of Canadian universities.Thisstatistical series documents the changes which are occuring in the demand andsupply patterns of doctoral recipients from Canadian universities with the purposeof providing a statistical base from which policy analyses could be developed. ## RÉSUMÉ Les universités canadiennes ont subi au cours des annees 1960/mi-1970 unépanouissement remarquable.Cependant,elles se voient entrer dans une perioded'incertitude au début des annees 1980 due aux contraintes financieres imposeespar les gouvernements,I'accroissement soudain del'inscription au niveau univer-sitaire,et au déplacement vers les programmes de metier.Ces développementsont eu un impact sur les caractéristiques socio-economiques des quelques 33,000professeurs engagés àplein temps soit I'age,le.sexe,le rang académique,le salaire,la citoyennete et les qualifications.Comme la demande de professeurs est res-treinte dans cette décade,le fonctionnement des universités canadiennes en estaffecté.Les différentes statistiques presentent les changements qui surviennentface aux modeles d'offre et de demande chez les détenteurs de doctorats d'univer-sités canadiennes.Cette documentation a pour but de fournir une ligne de con-duite qui servira au développement de nouvelles politiques. ## INTRODUCTION The purpose of the documentation is to provide a statistical overview of full-timefaculty at Canadian universities.The data have been derived from the StatisticsCanada University Teachers file.No attempt is made to assess the implicationsof the tables,but they do constitute a base from which such analyses could bedeveloped. During the last 15 years the demographic and socio-economic characteristicsof full-time university teachers have changed substantially.These trends assumeadded significance because of the severe financial restraints imposed by govern-ments and the sudden growth in university enrolment during the early eighties.In the two years,1981-82 and 1982-83,full-time enrolment grew by more than10 percent,and the shift in student preferences to professionally oriented pro-grams continued. This article traces,within an historical context,changes in the age,sex,acade- mic rank,salary and citizenship of full-time teachers at Canadian universities. At the same time,an attempt is made to estimate,for this decade,both thereplacement demand for full-time university teachers and the supply of doctoraldegrees available from Canadian universities. FULL-TIME UNIVERSITY TEACHERS The number of full-time university teachers increased sixfold from 5,000 duringthe mid-fifties to about 30,000 by 1974-75.Since then this number has levelledoff at about 33,000. A basic assumption of this article is that despite shifts in the distribution offull-time faculty from arts and science to professionally oriented disciplines,thetotal number of teachers willnot decline drastically during the next few years. This picture differs from the late sixties and early seventies when,for aboutten years,an average of about 2,000 additional full-time teachers were added tothe expanding Canadian university system each year. University teaching has long been the preserve of males,and this pattern con-tinues only slightly changed into the 1980s.In 1958-59 only 11%of universityteachers were women,

FAQs

What major changes affected Canadian universities in the late 1960s to early 1980s?

Universities expanded from the late sixties to the mid-seventies, then faced uncertainty in the early 1980s due to financial restraints, enrollment growth, and a shift toward professionally oriented programs.

Which characteristics of full-time teachers are analyzed in the document?

The document examines teachers’ age, sex, academic rank, salary, citizenship, and qualifications.

How does the document describe the demand and supply patterns related to doctoral recipients?

It documents changes in demand and supply patterns of doctoral recipients from Canadian universities, aiming to provide a statistical base for policy analysis.

Oct 15, 2026

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