Just under half (45%) of young adults in Canada outside Quebec who had attended a French-language high school and went on to study at university chose a French-language or bilingual institution during the period from the 2016/2017 to the 2020/2021 academic years. This proportion was higher among young adults who had been living in northern (93%) and southeastern (85%) New Brunswick and in eastern (72%) and northern (72%) Ontario five years before the 2021 Census of Population.
Statistics Canada released a new study entitled "Did young adults who attended a French-language high school continue their postsecondary studies in French? A look at the situation in Canada outside Quebec in 2021." It uses a linkage of the Postsecondary Student Information System with the 2021 Census of Population and information from the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials to examine the language of instruction of the first college or university attended by young adults who had attended a French-language high school in Canada outside Quebec, based on their region of residence in 2016 (i.e., before they first enrolled at a postsecondary institution) and their field of study.
Given the importance of French-language education in Canada outside Quebec to train workers who can use French at work and to preserve official language minority communities, the results of this study can help to identify the regions and fields of study where young adults who have just completed high school are more likely to choose a French-language or bilingual institution.
