TORONTO - Canadian universities are bursting at the seams as enrolment continues to rise, and some university insiders worry schools won't be able to handle the strain.

National enrolment numbers have reached a record high and experts predict they'll keep rising over the next five years.

In Ontario, the province with the most universities, schools are poised for another boost in enrolment this fall.

The latest figures show the number of high school students applying to the province's 20 universities has gone up 2.4 per cent over last year.

Universities had received 383,403 applications by the Jan. 12 deadline, according to the Council of Ontario Universities. That's 49 per cent more than in 2000.

The continuous rise in enrolment is "a good sign," proof that students understand the requirements of a knowledge-based economy, Bonnie Patterson, the council's president and CEO, said Friday.

But it also raises concerns in terms of funding to accommodate the growing student body without compromising the quality of education, she said.

"It's one thing to fund those students at the same level of current funding, and that's basically what the government's been doing, but as we expand our numbers, you have to be very careful that you don't... alter significantly the quality of the student experience," she said.

A spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities said the province is pleased by the rise in university applications, but declined to comment on long-term funding plans.

Funding for the upcoming academic year will be confirmed through the budget process, Tyler Charlebois said.

Enrolment spiked in Ontario after the province eliminated the Ontario Academic Credit in the 2003-2004 academic year, and has kept rising since, Patterson said.

Universities should see a similar jump in enrolment over the next five years, she said.

What's more, demand for graduate programs will likely rise as students complete their degrees, she said.

Changes in the labour market, immigration patterns and the economic returns associated with university degrees all play a role in beefing up enrolment, said Herb O'Heron, director of research and policy analysis for the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

The number of full-time students in Canadian universities rose by 326,000 in the past 15 years, an increase of 57 per cent, according to statistics compiled by the association.

There were 32,000 more full-time students enrolled last fall than in the fall of 2009, an increase of 3.7 per cent, the data show.

About 755,000 of the country's 898,000 full-time university students are at the undergraduate level.