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UVic’s 2008/09 student enrolment is up over last year, thanks to a significant increase in registrations from first-year BC high school students. Applications from high school graduates increased by five per cent, while registrations from that group were up 20 per cent over last year.
raduate and undergraduate registration for the fall term is 8,451 FTEs (full time equivalents). The total is estimated to be 8,449 FTEs for the spring term. Due to the introduction of the new Banner integrated database system, registration figures are now being reported by spring, summer and fall terms rather than combining the fall and spring terms as was done in the past. (Fall headcount figures were not available by The Ring’s publication deadline.)
UVic’s Associate Vice-President Academic Planning Catherine Mateer says an increase in scholarship funding for incoming students was one of the reasons the university attracted more first-year students despite the fact that the number of graduating high school students in BC is decreasing.
“There is evidence that we’ve experienced more applications and admissions as a result of enhancing our scholarships. The fact that we offered differentiated scholarships—additional funding to students who had to travel to UVic from outside the Greater Victoria area—set UVic apart from other BC universities,” says Mateer.
She also credits UVic’s multi-faceted recruitment campaign for the university’s success in attracting new students. UVic was the first provincial university that removed the requirement for incoming BC students to write provincial exams, since it wasn’t a requirement of students entering from other provincial jurisdictions.
“Our enhanced campus visit programs, including Experience UVic, marketing campaigns and new website presence appeared to be very successful in encouraging first year students to register with us,” adds Mateer.
“At the graduate level, we believe that the increase in applications and registrations is due to the expanded array of graduate programs, increased success in research funding, and enhanced support for graduate students made possible by recent growth in provincial funding for graduate training, as well as to the enhanced marketing of expanded opportunities at the University of Victoria.”
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