ARCHIVED – Enhanced Language Training Initiative: Formative Evaluation

2.0 Profile of Projects and Participants

This section presents profiles of the ELT projects and participants, based on the information in the CIC ELT database.

2.1 Profile of ELT Projects and SPOs

Since the program launch in 2003/04, CIC funded 253 ELT projects (see Exhibit 1). Twenty-eight percent (28%) of the projects were development projects, half (50%) were delivery projects and the remaining 22% were both development and delivery. In the first year of the program (2003/04), development and combined development and delivery projects accounted for 86% of all project starts. On the other hand, development and combined development and delivery projects starting in fiscal year 2005/2006 [ note 16 ] account for only 33% of the project starts. [ note 17 ]

Exhibit 1: Profile of Projects 2003/04 to 2006/07

Source: CIC ELT database, May 2007

Information from the CIC ELT database indicated that there are 140 unique SPOs providing ELT services (see Exhibit 2).

Exhibit 2: Number of SPOs, by Type of Project

Source: CIC ELT database, May 2007
* The overall number of SPOs is less than the total of the projects because one SPO can be offering multiple types of projects – i.e., projects that are both development and delivery, just development or just delivery.

2.2 Profile of ELT Participants

This section presents a profile of the characteristics of 2,488 ELT participants outside British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. [ note 18 ] There are probably considerably more participants than reflected in the database. It is estimated that there are probably about 5,500 ELT participants in the provinces covered by ELT, some of which are missing because CIC has not yet completed the data entry for all project participants. [ note 19 ] (See Appendix B for the explanation of the calculation of this estimate.) Therefore, the database provides information on just under half (46%) the expected number of participants.

Of the 2,488 participants in the database, just over half were female (56%) and 43% were male [ note 20 ]. The average age of participants is 37.4 years, with a range of 17 to 74 years. The age spread, with the largest group being 35 to 44 years of age, is consistent with the participants’ education profile. As would be expected, a high proportion (73%) of participants reported having at least a university degree (37% have a graduate or post-graduate degree). This is above average for the levels of education for immigrants generally. “Most immigrants of workforce age (18 and over) entering Canada have 12 years or less of schooling.” [ note 21 ] Participants come from 160 countries. By far the largest percentage of participants (30%) comes from China – the next closest country of origin is India at 8% (see Exhibit 3).

Exhibit 3: Top Five Cited Countries of Origin of Participants

Source: CIC ELT database, May 2007

Just over two-thirds of participants (69%) are permanent residents and 11% have applied for landed immigrant status (see Exhibit 4). Findings also show that 9% of ELT participants are Canadian citizens or refugee claimants, although neither group is eligible to participate in the program. Alberta, accounting for 1% of them, should be excluded from this calculation because the province co-funds ELT projects and has broader eligibility criteria. The majority of those remaining were in Ontario (7.8%). However, the province of Ontario also co-funded some projects in 2004-05 which could explain the proportion of ineligible participants. The information included in the current database does not shed light on this issue.

Exhibit 4: Participants by Immigration Status

Source: CIC ELT database, May 2007

The most common occupations for ELT participants are shown in Exhibit 5. The top occupation (accounting for 15% of participants) includes various fields of engineering. If combined with the “other engineering” field, engineers account for nearly one-quarter (23.5%) of all participants. The second most common occupational category is pharmacists, dieticians and nutritionists, accounting for just over 10% of participants.

Exhibit 5: Top Six Occupations of ELT Participants

Source: CIC ELT database

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[16] The ELT database is sorted according to the fiscal year of each project’s starting date. Since, many projects are multiyear projects, data by project start date does not completely reflect ELT project activity in any fiscal year.

[17] There is insufficient data in the ELT database to provide a profile of the components of the funded projects.

[18] Please refer to Section 3.4.5 on database limitations for more details on the extent of missing data.

[19] As of July 2007, there were approximately 1,500 participant records from completed projects to be added to the database.

[20] Information was missing for 1% of the participants.

[21] “The Economic Performance of Immigrants: Education Perspective”.

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