CANADIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Children of immigrants more likely to graduate university

Tuesday, 30 September 2008

According to a new study from Statistics Canada, the children of immigrants are more likely graduate from university than their peers with Canadian-born parents.

While only about 28 per cent of the children of Canadian-born parents get university degrees, the children of Chinese immigrants are almost three times more likely to graduate from university at 70 percent. Children of Indian parents and those from other Asian countries and Africa have graduation rates above 50 per cent.

"The children of almost all immigrant groups have either similar or higher university completion rates than the children of Canadian-born parents," says Teresa Abada, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Western Ontario who conducted the study for Statistics Canada.

The high-school graduation rate is at least 90 per cent for the children of immigrants from most countries, but university graduation rates vary widely:

• Africa (56 per cent)
• Caribbean (26 per cent)
• Latin America (24 per cent)
• China (70 per cent)
• Philippines (40 per cent)
• India (65 per cent)
• West Asia/Middle East (44 per cent)
• Other Asia (52 per cent)
• United States (34 per cent)
• United Kingdom (38 per cent)
• Germany (24 per cent)
• Italy (32 per cent)
• Portugal (26 per cent)
• Netherlands (26 per cent)
• Other Northern/Western Europe (35 per cent)
• Eastern Europe (38 per cent)
• Other Europe (45 per cent)
• Other countries (37 per cent)
• All children of immigrants (38 per cent)
• Children of Canadian-born parents (28 per cent)

The information comes from a 2002 study of national origin and university education titled the Ethnic Diversity Survey which focused on about 3,300 young adults, aged 25 to 34, who were either Canadian-born children of at least one immigrant parent, or who immigrated to Canada at age 12 or younger.

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