Postsecondary Student Choices and Skills Shortage in Canada's ICT Sector

This paper aims to contribute to the policy debate regarding skills in Canada's ICT sector by pointing out the importance of student choices in the postsecondary education system. While employers seek workers with different skill sets, individuals make career decisions according to a range of factors, including their personal preferences and abilities. We develop a simple conceptual framework that highlights the factors underlying ICT undergraduate enrolment at Canadian universities, and present data on how ICT enrolment has declined across entering cohorts in recent years. In a context where policy makers are trying to increase the number of ICT students. We summarize the issues and policy options for addressing the shortage of ICT students from the demand side of the post-secondary education system, with supply - which relates to the number and type of ICT places provided by individual PSE institutions, PSE systems more generally, and other related factors.