Enrolment numbers for new first-year students are up—or even—to 2014 figures in five Mennonite universities and colleges in Canada and the U.S. where Canadians are enrolled, according to statistics gathered by Canadian Mennonite for the fall semester.
Goshen (Ind.) College had the highest increase, with a total of 225 incoming freshmen, a 21 per cent increase over last year. Goshen has a total head count of 839 full- or part-time students, with “numbers increasing in incoming first-year students and adult and continuing studies, as well as greater diversity and retention,” according to a Goshen College news release.
Goshen College moved up slightly to 127th among the top American liberal arts colleges in the 2016 “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” rankings by U.S. News & World Report, rising two spots since last year. Among liberal arts colleges, Goshen again ranked fifth for most students studying abroad. The college also rated 33rd among liberal arts colleges for most international students, up from 37th last year.
Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), Harrisonburg, Va., had the second-highest number, at 257 new students, an increase of 17 over last year. But more significantly, according to a news release, the numbers are “a celebration of the largest incoming class in documented EMU history.” The 98-year-old institution has a total of 1,442 full-time-equivalent (FTE) students in undergraduate and graduate programs.
Bluffton (Ohio) University had an increase of seven new students, for a total of 231; last year’s enrolment was 224. Its total student population is 1,011. Bluffton also has new full-time students in its masters, dietetics internship and adult degree completion programs.
On the Canadian side, Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, reported 200 new students at its main Shaftesbury location, an increase of 14 over last year’s number of 186. On its Menno Simons College campus there are 307 FTE students out of a total 917 University of Winnipeg students taking courses in conflict resolution studies or international development.
At Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., there are “283 students participating in the residence program of the total 1,477 enrolled in Grebel courses offered in the University of Waterloo Arts Faculty,” according to a release. Grebel has 55 graduate students: 23 in theologi-cal studies and 32 in peace and conflict studies.
New student numbers were not available from Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C.; it would only report its total head count of 406 students this year as compared to 405 in 2014.
See the Focus on Education stories, “Back at the Grebel table” and “Back to class.”
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