Over the top

Dal students from Beijing, Yanni Ma and Jingjing Tinn sample fine Canadian cuisine during Dalfest. This year, there are more than 1,200 international students studying at Dalhousie. (Bruce Bottomley Photo)

It’s not your imagination. This is the busiest fall on campus yet.

It’s official now, with an overall rise in enrolment of just over four per cent, more students than ever have chosen to pursue their studies at Dalhousie this fall.

Overall enrolment of full- and part-time students is 15,970 as of Oct.1, 2009 (not including University of King’s College students, many of whom also study on campus). There are 650 more students cracking the books at Dalhousie, compared with the same time last year.

“This reflects a growing recognition of Dalhousie’s diverse and high quality academic program offerings,” says Alan Shaver, Vice-president Academic and Provost, and Chair of the Enrolment Management Committe.

Dalhousie continues to have the largest graduate student contingent in the region with 3,700 students, up 87 from last year (that’s 2.4 per cent).

There’s positive news for full-time first-year students as well, with 2124 registering, 45 more than last year (or 2.2 per cent). A notable jump in transfers helps to swell the enrolment, with 1,122 registering, that’s up 80 students (or 7.7 per cent).

Dalhousie’s cosmopolitan campus hosts a large number of students from around the world. This year, 1219 international students have traveled from far and wide to further their academic studies here. That’s an increase of 185 students (almost 18 per cent above last year). The largest communities hail from Eastern Asia (226), the Middle East (151), Bermuda and the Caribbean (112) and North America (107).

“This talent and capacity presents a long-term opportunity to increase immigration, and global connections, for Nova Scotia,” says President Tom Traves.“

Preliminary figures are reported to the Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) as of Oct. 1, 2009. The association publishes comparative enrolments on their website at http://www.atlanticuniversities.ca/ as of Oct. 14. Official figures for Statistics Canada are provided as of Dec.1, 2009.