A discussion of the future of the institution necessarily requires considering how many students, staff, and faculty will be part of the university and how those people will be distributed across different areas. Indeed, defining the future shape and size of the university is mentioned explicitly in Queen’s Bicentennial Vision: A Discussion Paper and is a central factor in areas ranging from academic and research impact to financial stability.
The following sections provide information related to the number of students, staff, and faculty at Queen’s, and the demand for enrolment in different programs at Queen’s, within Ontario, and across Canada.
The Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) collects and stores institutional data for Queen's.
Student, staff, and faculty numbers
Distribution of faculty across academic fields
The "shape" of the university, i.e., how its people are distributed across fields, is dictated primarily by the distribution of faculty members across those areas because areas with more faculty can generally support higher numbers of students and require higher numbers of staff. The information in this section examines the current distribution of faculty at Queen’s and the other U15 institutions.
Figure 2.1 compares the percentage distribution of faculty at Queen’s across various academic fields against the median values for this measure at the other U15 institutions.
Figure 2.2 provides the analogous comparison between Queen’s and the other five smallest U15 institutions to assess whether the distribution is affected by institutional size. The data illustrate that the trends are generally unaffected by institutional size. Using the data for the whole U15 reveals that Queen’s exceeds the U15 median by 9.0 and 4.5 percentage points in the humanities and business, respectively, and is lower than the U15 median by 10.6 percentage points in health. Queen’s and the U15 median are similar (less than 2 percentage point differences) in all other areas.

Academic Area | Queen's | U15 Median excl. Queen's |
---|---|---|
Business | 10.8 | 6.3 |
Creative Arts | 4.9 | 3.0 |
Education | 3.0 | 4.9 |
Engineering | 13.4 | 14.5 |
Health | 11.0 | 21.6 |
Humanities | 18.6 | 9.6 |
Law | 3.8 | 2.8 |
Science | 20.9 | 22.1 |
Social Science | 13.7 | 15.2 |

Academic Area | Queen's | U15 Median 5 smallest schools excl. Queen's |
---|---|---|
Business | 10.8 | 5.8 |
Creative Arts | 4.9 | 2.7 |
Education | 3.0 | 3.6 |
Engineering | 13.4 | 17.0 |
Health | 11.0 | 24.0 |
Humanities | 18.6 | 8.3 |
Law | 3.8 | 2.6 |
Science | 20.9 | 24.1 |
Social Science | 13.7 | 15.1 |
Figures 2.3 and 2.4 compare the percent of faculty by tri-council at Queen’s with the median values for the full U15 and smallest 5 U15 institutions, respectively.
The data indicate that these distributions are qualitatively unaffected by the size of the institutions used to calculate the median, with the percentage of faculty being ³ÉÈË´óƬ for SSHRC, lowest for CIHR, and that of NSERC faculty residing in between.
Queen’s exhibits the same trends, but the difference between the percentage of faculty members in CIHR and SSHRC fields is more extreme than at the typical U15 institution. For instance, comparing against the median for the whole U15 indicates that Queen’s exceeds the U15 median by 10.9 percentage points in SSHRC areas, is lower than the U15 median by 10.6 percentage points in CIHR areas, and is close to the U15 median in NSERC areas.

Council | Queen's | U15 Median excl. Queen's |
---|---|---|
CIHR | 11.0 | 21.6 |
NSERC | 34.3 | 35.6 |
SSHRC | 54.7 | 43.8 |

Figure 2.4 | Queen's | U15 Median 5 smallest schools excl. Queen's |
---|---|---|
CIHR | 11.0 | 24.0 |
NSERC | 34.3 | 37.1 |
SSHRC | 54.7 | 34.2 |
Distribution of applications and enrolments across academic fields
The ways applications and enrolments are distributed across academic fields provide insights into student demands for entry into different programs and institutional capacities to accept students in different areas. Figure 2.5 illustrates the distribution of university enrolments across Canada from 2013 through 2022 in areas consistent with the broad academic fields present at Queen’s. These data demonstrate that enrolments are increasing business, engineering, health, the sciences, and the social sciences. Enrolments are stable in creative arts and education, and are decreasing in the humanities.

Academic Area | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business | 156216 | 163251 | 166407 | 168960 | 172851 | 175260 | 178446 | 179160 | 185355 | 187140 | 186714 |
Creative Arts | 38502 | 37968 | 37377 | 36786 | 36912 | 37134 | 38301 | 38979 | 39072 | 38748 | 38721 |
Education | 53958 | 53046 | 52581 | 48831 | 50886 | 50697 | 51531 | 53400 | 55635 | 56865 | 57003 |
Engineering | 97314 | 104406 | 110301 | 114939 | 117957 | 122091 | 124923 | 127659 | 127620 | 130965 | 134073 |
Health | 121584 | 126951 | 130944 | 133941 | 134865 | 136674 | 139242 | 140631 | 144618 | 144627 | 146124 |
Humanities | 135609 | 130416 | 121968 | 117519 | 114798 | 114528 | 113100 | 110559 | 104892 | 99381 | 98820 |
Science | 140637 | 147285 | 151617 | 157620 | 165264 | 172074 | 179787 | 189132 | 195084 | 201987 | 208206 |
Social Sciences and Law | 182670 | 187299 | 186681 | 187578 | 187767 | 188499 | 191223 | 195333 | 201984 | 202632 | 198339 |
Of course, enrolments reflect institutional capacities to accept students in different areas but may not reflect demand. To assess demand, trends in OUAC and Queen’s undergraduate admissions data are considered in Figures 2.6 through 2.8.

Figure 2.6 provides the OUAC application numbers in different fields from 2017 through 2024. These data demonstrate that applications have been increasing in all areas except the humanities and creative arts, where applications numbers are generally flat.
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business | 87198 | 87676 | 90023 | 89345 | 89659 | 94481 | 97993 | 104737 |
Creative Arts | 20718 | 21639 | 22107 | 21386 | 19466 | 21223 | 21556 | 22457 |
Engineering | 42595 | 44311 | 43641 | 42877 | 43490 | 47445 | 50576 | 61715 |
Health | 54331 | 54881 | 58791 | 58221 | 65145 | 72269 | 69943 | 76292 |
Humanities | 47548 | 45796 | 48799 | 50262 | 47038 | 48675 | 48906 | 51387 |
Science | 104520 | 117137 | 119958 | 119155 | 128043 | 143268 | 149722 | 155087 |
Social Sciences | 76232 | 80813 | 89508 | 86073 | 84632 | 91280 | 94233 | 95542 |
Figure 2.7 provides the same values as Figure 2.6, but the humanities and social sciences values have been combined into a single number to better compare with Queen’s application data, which collectively captures both areas via applications into the BA. Note that the OUAC data do not include applications to education, law, medicine, and some other health programs. The data demonstrate that applications have been increasing in all areas except the creative arts, where applications numbers are generally flat.

Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business | 87198 | 87676 | 90023 | 89345 | 89659 | 94481 | 97993 | 104737 |
Creative Arts | 20718 | 21639 | 22107 | 21386 | 19466 | 21223 | 21556 | 22457 |
Engineering | 42595 | 44311 | 43641 | 42877 | 43490 | 47445 | 50576 | 61715 |
Health | 54331 | 54881 | 58791 | 58221 | 65145 | 72269 | 69943 | 76292 |
Hum. + Soc. Sci. | 123780 | 126609 | 138307 | 136335 | 131670 | 139955 | 143139 | 146929 |
Science | 104520 | 117137 | 119958 | 119155 | 128043 | 143268 | 149722 | 155087 |
Figure 2.8 shows the total number of Queen’s applications into different academic areas from 2015 through 2024. For clarity, creative arts applications include those into fine arts and music, humanities and social science applications include those for any BA program (including continuing education), those for science include any BSc application, including continuing education) plus applications to computing, and health applications include those into the BHSc and nursing programs.
In general applications into all areas are increasing, except for creative arts, which has been flat before dropping significantly in 2024 due to the suspension of admissions into the Bachelor of Fine Arts program. The sharp increase in health applications in 2018 coincides with the introduction of the Bachelor of Health Sciences program and saw a coincident decrease in science applications for a few years; however, science applications have been increasing since 2020.

Year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business | 6341 | 6833 | 7396 | 7931 | 7785 | 7812 | 8991 | 9012 | 8773 | 9366 |
Creative Arts | 297 | 309 | 347 | 445 | 479 | 416 | 415 | 488 | 502 | 118 |
Engineering | 5199 | 5660 | 5924 | 6391 | 6537 | 6113 | 6678 | 7749 | 7872 | 9954 |
Health | 1123 | 1149 | 1203 | 1347 | 5400 | 5985 | 7360 | 7891 | 7233 | 7960 |
Humanities and Social Sciences | 8933 | 9383 | 10214 | 11708 | 12933 | 12685 | 13218 | 13940 | 13789 | 14343 |
Science | 8940 | 10466 | 11778 | 14663 | 13325 | 12322 | 14543 | 15884 | 15983 | 16486 |
Figures 2.9 and 2.10 show the total number of Queen’s applications into different academic areas at the master’s and doctoral levels from 2017 through 2024. The data show declines in nearly all areas for both degrees since 2021.


Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business | 153 | 190 | 181 | 198 | 160 | 131 | 124 | 121 |
Creative Arts | 26 | 35 | 44 | 38 | 70 | 51 | 47 | 88 |
Education | 382 | 400 | 401 | 520 | 539 | 436 | 514 | 531 |
Engineering | 730 | 1002 | 1008 | 920 | 873 | 724 | 738 | 788 |
Health | 921 | 917 | 974 | 977 | 1127 | 1019 | 935 | 961 |
Humanities and Social Sciences | 1232 | 1351 | 1280 | 1385 | 1457 | 1172 | 986 | 967 |
Law | 54 | 59 | 81 | 97 | 103 | 116 | 90 | 88 |
Science | 695 | 871 | 1102 | 1139 | 1431 | 1407 | 1256 | 956 |
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business | 88 | 139 | 145 | 155 | 147 | 134 | 122 | 115 |
Creative Arts | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 18 |
Education | 42 | 38 | 64 | 66 | 62 | 56 | 57 | 62 |
Engineering | 165 | 206 | 212 | 212 | 158 | 144 | 165 | 162 |
Health | 127 | 168 | 213 | 213 | 244 | 180 | 145 | 179 |
Humanities and Social Sciences | 330 | 380 | 359 | 405 | 471 | 333 | 340 | 273 |
Law | 31 | 40 | 35 | 27 | 43 | 32 | 33 | 27 |
Science | 201 | 254 | 238 | 293 | 335 | 283 | 280 | 228 |
Information / data for members of the Queen’s community as they consider their input on the development of the Bicentennial Vision.
- Section 1: Institutional strategies and frameworks
- Section 2: People data (this page)
- Section 3: Institutional funding data
- Section 4: Research data
- Section 5: Rankings