University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS)

Detailed information for 2000/2001

The purpose of the survey is to collect national data on selected socio-economic characteristics of full-time teaching staff at Canadian degree-granting institutions (universities and colleges).

• Description
• Data sources and methodology

Description

This annual survey collects national comparable information on the number and socio-economic characteristics of full-time teaching staff at Canadian degree granting institutions (universities and colleges). The information is collected for each individual staff member employed by the institution as of October 1st of the academic year. The data collected by this survey are used by a variety of clients with a diversity of needs. Some of these clients include:

Individual:
- Individual researchers and educational planners;
- Individual universities and colleges, especially the Institutional Research and Human Resources offices;
- Individual bargaining units representing staff at individual universities and colleges.

Provincial:
- Government departments responsible for education and labour;
- Provincial associations such as the Council of Ontario Universities and the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission;
- Other provincial professional associations.

Federal/National:
- Federal government departments such as Human Resources Development Canada, Industry Canada
- Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (C.M.E.C.)
- National Associations such as the Association of Universities and Colleges Canada (A.U.C.C.), Canadian Association of University Teachers (C.A.U.T.), Canadian Association of University Business Officers (C.A.U.B.O.)
- Other professional associations

International:
- International organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (U.N.E.S.C.O.), Organization for Economic Cop-operation and Development (O.E.C.D.), and the Asian-Pacific Economic Co-operation (A.P.E.C.)

These clients generally use the information in system-wide studies of employment patterns, gender-based analyses, ageing of the professoriate and implications for renewal, salary analysis for contract negotiations, retention and losses to the system, projection of demand, promotional patterns etc.

It should be noted that many factors can influence salaries, including qualifications and number of years of teaching. As well, some universities impose a maximum to the salary range for each rank while others have an open-ended scale.

Reference period: October 1 of the academic year

Collection period: October to June

Subjects

• Education, training and learning
• Teachers and educators

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population of this survey is full-time teaching staff in public or private degree-granting institutions that are tenured or who have a contract for twelve months or more as of October 1st of the reporting year. This includes all teaching staff within faculties, academic staff in teaching hospitals visiting academic staff in faculties. Research staffs that have an academic rank and a salary scale similar to teaching staff are included. Administrative and support staff are excluded, as are teaching and research assistants.

• Additional documentation

Instrument design

This questionnaire was last revised in 1985.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore, no sampling is done.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

The affiliated and other related colleges of these institutions may be reported by the parent institution or independently.

The survey is designed to collect information on the characteristics of full-time teachers in degree-granting institutions. Each year Statistics Canada sends out a written request for the information as listed in the "Data Element Manual" (see "Questionnaire(s) and guide(s)). Every institution is asked to submit individual teacher records in an electronic format (CD, diskette etc) to Statistics Canada.