Graduate retention in NB: Positive trends and key insights
Author: NB-IRDT Staff
Posted on Jul 22, 2025
Category: DataNB
Curious about how many graduates choose to stay in New Brunswick after finishing university?
The latest update in NB-IRDT’s graduate retention series, “University graduate retention in New Brunswick: 2022 graduate cohort update,” gives us some encouraging news.
Nearly 72% of students who graduated from the province’s publicly funded universities in 2022 were still living here a year later—the highest retention rate seen across the 2010–2022 study period.
Students originally from NB remain the most likely to stay, with a 95% one-year retention rate. Retention among international students has also risen steadily, doubling since 2010. UNB shows the strongest international retention in the latest cohort, while Université de Moncton leads in overall graduate retention.
Nursing graduates continue to show the highest retention rates, with strong outcomes also seen among graduates in business, health and science fields.
After more variation in results during the pandemic years, this update reflects a return to the long-term trend—offering a clearer picture of how post-secondary outcomes are evolving in NB.