THUNDER BAY — Confederation College has made progress in its efforts to improve the overall graduation rate of its students.
A new report from Colleges Ontario, the organization that represents 24 post-secondary institutions, shows 64.5 per cent of Confederation students eligible to graduate in the 2021-2022 school year did so.
That's an improvement over the 60 per cent graduation rate in the 2020-2021 academic year.
College president Kathleen Lynch had stated last year that Confederation was already aware that it needed to move that metric up, so it was working on a retention and graduation strategy.
The focus was to be on two-year diploma programs, where a graduation rate of only 55 per cent pulled down the school's overall rate.
Aaron Skillen, vice-president academic, is expressing enthusiasm over the new data.
"We've been working diligently over the past couple of years to support our students and reduce the number of those who did not complete their programs," he said. "The significant increase in our graduation rate is a clear indication that our efforts are paying off."
Among the six Northern Ontario colleges, Confederation's graduation rate was about in the middle of the pack, and just half a percentage point below the all-Ontario average.
Confederation officials are also welcoming some other statistics released by Colleges Ontario.
A survey found that nearly 90 per cent of Confederation 2021-2022 graduates who responded were working within six months of graduation, the second highest rate among Northern schools and four per cent higher than the provincial average.
Almost 83 per cent of Confederation grads who responded said they were very satisfied or satisfied – nearly six per cent better than the Ontario average – while only 4.4 per cent said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, which was half the Ontario rate and tied for the lowest rate among all 24 colleges.
Confederation College has an average enrolment of 7,000 full-time and part-time students annually.
Besides its main campus in Thunder Bay, it operates satellite campuses in Red Lake, Sioux Lookout, Kenora, Dryden, Fort Frances, Greenstone and Marathon.
NOTE: In response to an inquiry from TBnewswatch, a spokesperson for Confederation College said there were 1,328 graduates in the 2021-2022 academic year, of whom 320 responded to the question about satisfaction levels, and 203 responded to the question about employment.
- TBnewswatch
