Enrollment in Canadian universities surpassed the one-million mark for the first time during the 2004-05 academic year, the seventh straight year in which enrollment hits a record high, Statistics Canada reported Monday.

The growth in university enrollment in recent years was fueled largely by rising numbers of foreign pupils, particularly Asian students, as well as growing numbers of Canadian young adults, the agency said in its report.

The agency said there were 1.01 million university registrations for the 2004-05 year, 2.1 percent higher from the previous academic year.

Among these enrollments, a record 75,200 students were from other countries, up 7.3 percent from the previous year. International students now represent 7.4 percent of total registrations, and half of them are from Asia.

Women continued to vastly outnumber men in Canadian universities in 2004-05, accounting for 58 percent of all registrations, according to the report.

Editor: Donald