Automotive apprentice Crystal Nassichuk uses a digital torque wrench on a demo engine in the Camosun College automotive workshop at the Interurban campus. The Greater Victoria region ranks behind the rest of British Columbia and Canada, when it comes to share of residents with apprenticeships or trade certificates. Travis Paterson/News Staff

Automotive apprentice Crystal Nassichuk uses a digital torque wrench on a demo engine in the Camosun College automotive workshop at the Interurban campus. The Greater Victoria region ranks behind the rest of British Columbia and Canada, when it comes to share of residents with apprenticeships or trade certificates. Travis Paterson/News Staff

Greater Victoria residents most educated in B.C.

Region lacks behind the rest of the country when it comes to pursuing apprenticeships

  • Oct. 5, 2018 12:00 a.m.

Residents of Greater Victoria are among the highest number of educated people in British Columbia.

That was the findings from the Victoria Foundation’s annual Vital Signs report, which found almost six out of 10 people in the CRD — 58.2 per cent — have completed some form of post-secondary education.

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That places the region ahead of both the province, which came in at 55.9 per cent, and the rest of Canada at 56.9 per cent.

Less than 10 per cent of the region’s students fail to complete high school, while for the whole of British Columbia, that figure is 14 per cent, and nationally, it is 17 per cent.

Members of the local Indigenous community also outpace their peers when it comes to educational achievements. Almost eight out of 10 — 77 per cent — of Indigenous people aged 15 years and older have at least one certificate, diploma or degree.

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But Victoria lags behind in one area — education in the trades.

Just 8 per cent of Greater Victoria residents aged 15 years and older have completed an apprenticeship or trade certificate. For British Columbia, the figure is 9 per cent, for Canada, 10 per cent.


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Saanich News