Enrolments are up for the winter 2021 semester at Memorial University.

As of the first day of classes, Memorial had a total of 18,542 students enrolled this semester, an overall increase of 3.9 per cent, or 688 students, from the start of the winter 2020 semester.

Some notable increases include undergraduate student enrolment, which leapt by 6.4 per cent or 649 students, and graduate student enrolment at the Marine Institute, which went up by 27.6 per cent.

Overall, graduate enrolment was up by 1.4 per cent (57 students) across all campuses.

There is also a noticeable increase in part-time student enrolment for the winter 2021 semester, with a 66.7 per cent increase at Grenfell Campus and 32 per cent at the St. John’s campus.

Dedication and resilience

President Vianne Timmons says it’s a positive sign for Memorial and for Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Students are looking forward to the future and so are we,” she said.

“We’ve adapted our environment at Memorial so that we can continue to attract the best students here, despite the pandemic and that’s always good news for the province.”

Tom Nault is the university registrar. He says the increases reflect the dedication of Memorial’s faculty and staff to providing students with the best learning experience possible under challenging circumstances.

“Everyone at Memorial is here to ensure our students succeed and these enrolment numbers speak to that,” Mr. Nault noted.

“Our students are also very resilient. They’ve helped make remote learning work even better than we expected over the last ten months and we’re very proud of that.”

Upward trend

Memorial also had record enrolment during the fall 2020 semester, including increases at Grenfell Campus, the Marine Institute and the St. John’s campus.

In September, the first day of classes saw Memorial peak at 19,429 students, only the second time student numbers topped 19,000 at the Newfoundland and Labrador’s only university.

There are currently more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degree options at Memorial. Information about all programs can be found here.