Education of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec
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Definition: For the purpose of this study, French-speaking immigrants living outside Quebec comprise those with only French as their first official language spoken (French FOLS) and those with both French and English (French-English FOLS). When French FOLS and French-English FOLS immigrants are examined as separate sub-populations of French-speaking immigrants in Canada, differences emerge in the representation and composition of the French-speaking immigrant population outside Quebec.
French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec are more likely to have completed a postsecondary education
According to the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS), immigrants in Canada are more likely than the native-born population to have competed a post-secondary education. While the same is true for French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec, they are also more likely to have achieved a post-secondary credential when compared to non-francophone immigrants.
As seen in Table 1, in 2011, the majority of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec had completed some form of postsecondary education. Among men aged 15 and over, 73.6% of French FOLS immigrants and 70.6% of French-English FOLS immigrants had attained a certificate, degree or diploma following high school. Conversely, a slightly smaller proportion of non-francophone immigrant men (61.9%) of the same age had completed a postsecondary education, while Canadian-born French FOLS (52.0%) and French-English FOLS (40.4%) men were the least likely to have earned a certificate or diploma following high school.
Among women, in both the French FOLS and French-English FOLS group, roughly 68.0% of French-speaking immigrant women aged 15 and above had achieved a postsecondary credential, compared to 56.2% of non-francophone immigrant women of the same age. Similar to native-born men, women born in Canada were the least likely relative to French-speaking immigrant women to have completed some form of postsecondary schooling, with roughly 53.0% of French FOLS and 45.3% of French-English FOLS Canadian-born women having earned a postsecondary credential in 2011.
Many French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec earn their degrees in Canada
A large proportion of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec earn their highest academic qualification in Canada. In 2011, between 45% and 60% of French-speaking immigrants living outside Quebec had obtained their highest degree in the country. Within the French-speaking immigrant population, a greater share of French FOLS immigrants (51.9%) than French-English FOLS immigrants (41.0%) earned their highest education level in Canada, while the proportion was slightly higher for French-speaking immigrant women (55.1% for French FOLS; 42.7% for French-English FOLS) compared to French-speaking immigrant men (48.6% for French FOLS; 39.1% among French-English FOLS).
Two factors primarily contribute to the large proportion of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec with degrees earned in Canada. First, roughly more than half (51.0%) of the total immigrant population living outside Quebec in 2011 came to Canada before the age of 25, and younger immigrants are much less likely to complete their education abroad than are those who arrive at older ages. Second, among international students who come study in Canada, many decide to stay and become permanent residents once they have completed their education in the country.
French-speaking immigrants study in similar fields as other immigrants outside Quebec
Men and women within the French-speaking immigrant population outside Quebec differ in their fields of study. Instead, they earn their highest academic credential in similar fields as their respective counterparts in the non-francophone immigrant population.
Among men in the French-speaking immigrant population outside Quebec, the three most common fields of study, and which together account for roughly 60% of the group, are engineering, business and commerce, and the social and behavioural sciences. In 2011, French-English FOLS immigrant men were most likely to have completed a degree in engineering (32.7%), followed by business and commerce (17.2%), while the social and behavioural sciences were the third most common field (12.2%).
| Level of Education | Native-born | Immigrant | FOlS Others | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French FOLS | French and English FOLS | French FOLS | French and English FOLS | ||
| Females | |||||
| No certificate or diploma | 23.1% | 25.6% | 13.4% | 13.1% | 19.5% |
| High school graduation certificate or equivalency certificate | 23.9% | 29.1% | 18.9% | 18.4% | 24.3% |
| Trade, apprenticeship certificate or diploma | 7.6% | 2.6% | 6.9% | 4.1% | 5.3% |
| College, cegep and university certificate below bachelor level | 25.8% | 13.3% | 26.8% | 19.2% | 23.8% |
| Bachelor's degree | 15.6% | 23.1% | 21.4% | 29.0% | 19.9% |
| University degree above bachelor level | 4.0% | 6.3% | 12.5% | 16.2% | 7.3% |
| Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Males | |||||
| No certificate or diploman | 25.2% | 29.5% | 9.1% | 12.6% | 16.4% |
| High school graduation certificate or equivalency certificate | 22.8% | 30.1% | 17.3% | 16.8% | 21.8% |
| Trade, apprenticeship certificate or diploma | 15.8% | 6.2% | 10.0% | 6.2% | 10.3% |
| College, cegep and university certificate below bachelor level | 20.9% | 15.0% | 20.8% | 17.7% | 21.0% |
| Bachelor's degree | 11.3% | 14.4% | 23.2% | 26.2% | 19.9% |
| University degree above bachelor level | 4.0% | 4.8% | 19.6% | 20.5% | 10.6% |
| Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
FOLS = Population of groups defined according to first official language spoken.
The category ‘FOLS other’ includes FOLS groups ‘English’ and ‘neither English nor French’.
Source: Statistics Canada, 1991-2006 Censuses, National Household Survey, 2011.
French FOLS immigrant men were similarly likely to have obtained degrees in engineering or business and commerce, with both of these fields separately accounting for roughly 22.0% of the group with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Like French-English FOLS immigrant men, the social and behavioural sciences had the third highest proportion of university educated men who were French FOLS immigrants outside Quebec in 2011. Overall, as seen in Chart 1 and 2, French-English FOLS immigrants showed more similarities to non-francophone immigrants in their distribution according to field of study than French FOLS immigrants in 2011.
Women in the French-speaking immigrant population outside Quebec are most likely to have earned university degrees in business and commerce, the social and behavioural sciences or the humanities. In 2011, like non-francophone immigrant women, the highest proportion of both French FOLS and French-English FOLS immigrant women had degrees completed in business and commerce, accounting for 20.5% and 18.7% of the women in each group respectively. The field of study with the second greatest share of French FOLS immigrant women were the social and behavioural sciences (17.6%), followed by the humanities (17.1%), while French-English FOLS immigrant women where slightly more likely to have earned a degree in the humanities (16.8%) than the social and behavioural sciences (16.6%).
Chart 1: Field of study of French-speaking immigrant women aged 15 and over with a university certificate or diploma, by sex and official language spoken, Canada less Quebec, 2011
Text version: Chart 1: Field of study of French-speaking immigrant women aged 15 and over with a university certificate or diploma, by sex and official language spoken, Canada less Quebec, 2011
| French FOLS native-born |
French FOLS immigrant |
French-English FOLS immigrant |
Immigrant FOLS other |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 1.7% | 5.5% | 10.9% | 8.0% |
| Natural & applied science | 5.1% | 6.2% | 8.1% | 8.4% |
| Health | 15.1% | 11.0% | 11.4% | 15.2% |
| Computer science | 1.4% | 3.7% | 3.8% | 5.4% |
| Education | 30.7% | 16.1% | 8.8% | 11.3% |
| Social & behavioral science | 16.2% | 17.6% | 16.6% | 15.0% |
| Humanities | 11.0% | 17.1% | 16.8% | 11.9% |
| Arts, entertainment, communication | 2.5% | 1.5% | 3.6% | 3.3% |
| Business & commerce | 15.0% | 20.5% | 18.7% | 20.1% |
| Trades | 1.2% | 0.9% | 1.3% | 1.4% |
| Other fields | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
FOLS = Population of groups defined according to first official language spoken.
The category ‘FOLS other’ includes FOLS groups ‘English’ and ‘neither English nor French’.
Source: Statistics Canada, 1991-2006 Censuses, National Household Survey, 2011.
Chart 2: Field of study of French-speaking immigrant men aged 15 and over with a university certificate or diploma, by sex and official language spoken, Canada less Quebec, 2011
Text version: Chart 2: Field of study of French-speaking immigrant men aged 15 and over with a university certificate or diploma, by sex and official language spoken, Canada less Quebec, 2011
| French FOLS native-born | French FOLS immigrant | French-English FOLS immigrant | Immigrant FOLS other | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 13.1% | 21.5% | 32.7% | 29.8% |
| Natural & applied science | 7.3% | 8.1% | 9.1% | 9.2% |
| Health | 7.6% | 7.1% | 8.0% | 8.4% |
| Computer science | 4.7% | 8.1% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Education | 16.7% | 6.0% | 2.6% | 3.8% |
| Social & behavioral science | 15.1% | 14.3% | 12.2% | 10.4% |
| Humanities | 9.2% | 8.7% | 6.8% | 6.2% |
| Arts, entertainment, communication | 2.0% | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1.8% |
| Business & commerce | 21.7% | 21.8% | 17.2% | 19.2% |
| Trades | 2.5% | 2.4% | 2.3% | 2.5% |
| Other fields | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
FOLS = Population of groups defined according to first official language spoken.
The category ‘FOLS other’ includes FOLS groups ‘English’ and ‘neither English nor French’.
Source: Statistics Canada, 1991-2006 Censuses, National Household Survey, 2011.
Source: Houle, R., Pereira, D., & Corbeil, J. P. (2014). Statistical Portrait of the French-speaking Immigrant Population Outside Quebec (1991-2011). Ottawa: CIC.
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