University and College Academic Staff System - Full-time Staff (FT-UCASS)

Detailed information for 2020/2021

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Annual

Record number:

3101

The purpose of the survey is to collect national data on selected socio-economic characteristics of full-time academic teaching staff in Canadian universities.

Data release - April 27, 2021 (Preliminary data); December 13, 2021 (Final)

Description

The University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS) survey collects national comparable information on the number and socio-economic characteristics of full-time academic teaching staff in Canadian universities.

The information is collected for each teaching staff of institutions as of October 1st of the academic year. The data collected by this survey is used by a variety of clients with a diversity of needs. Some of these clients include:

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

Federal/National:
- Federal government departments such as Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Industry Science and Economic Development (ISED)
- Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (C.M.E.C.)
- National Associations such as Universities Canada (U.C.), Canadian Association of University Teachers (C.A.U.T.), Canadian Association of University Business Officers (C.A.U.B.O.)

Granting agencies such as:
-Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC),-Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
(SSHRC), -Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), -Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI)

Provincial:
- Government departments responsible for education and labour;
- Provincial associations such as the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) and the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC)

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

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 collective agreement negotiations, retention and losses study, projection of demand and promotional patterns to name a few.

Reference period: The reference period is as of October 1st of the survey year (e.g. October 2020 for academic year 2020/2021).

Collection period: The request for information is sent out in mid-August with a deadline of mid-December.

Subjects

  • Education, training and learning
  • Teachers and educators

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population of this survey is full-time academic teaching staff in Canadian universities whose term of appointment is not less than twelve months. This includes all teaching academic staff within faculties, academic staff in teaching hospitals, visiting academic staff in faculties and research staff who have an academic rank and salary similar to teaching staff.

Administrative, support staff and librarians are excluded, as are staff solely engaged in research without academic rank and/or whose salary scales are different from academic teaching staff. Teaching and research assistants are also excluded.

Instrument design

Data elements contained in this survey have been collected since 1937. Specific information on the design, testing and implementation of the survey are unavailable.

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 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". Every public degree granting institution in Canada is asked to submit individual teacher records in an electronic format (usually EXCEL file) to Statistics Canada by the end of December. This data is obtained under the authority of the Statistics Act and is supplied by the institutions according to the record layout included in the data element manual which is appended in this document (in most cases data originates from the Human resource information system in each institution.)

The request for information is sent out in mid-August with a deadline of mid-December. A follow up letter is sent in mid-January to delinquent respondents. If the data have not been submitted by late February, then the respondent receives a series of reminder phone calls until the data are received.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Error detection

Data is submitted into a data processing system and is subjected to validity and relationship edits. The most recent data year is compared with past years to detect any unusual or unexpected changes. For those records that don't pass the edits, data is passed back to the institution for verification.

Once the data is complete, the file is finalized and summary tables are generated and sent for review by the respondent.

Once the respondent is satisfied with the data, they sign an authorization form that allows data to be released at the institution level.

Imputation

This methodology does not apply.

Estimation

The University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS) is a census produced from administrative data and is not subject to non-response. As such, estimation weights are not used to produce estimates for UCASS.

Population parameters are produced by running counts and frequencies of full-time academic staff in degree-granting institutions whose term of employment is not less than twelve months. Cross tabulations of variables also describe population parameters.

Quality evaluation

During the data processing phase, Statistics Canada performs validation activities to ensure accuracy and coherence. This includes comparing the most recent data with data in the previous year to detect any unusual or unexpected changes. As well, relationship edits are performed that isolate any outliers and these are verified with the respondent. Finally, for each respondent, summary tables are compiled from their data for their review and approval to ensure consistency.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data that would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Rounding and cell suppression are used to protect confidentiality of individuals, so that no one individual or their salary can be identified or extrapolated.

To release the data at the institutional level, institutions must authorize Statistics Canada in writing to release their information.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

The University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS) is a census produced from administrative data and, as such, is not subject to sampling error. The UCASS is however subject to some other non-sampling errors. More specifically, the UCASS is subject to measurement errors and processing errors. Since the target population of UCASS is very stable and the survey is mandatory, the risk of under coverage is minimized.

Coverage errors are minimized by ensuring that the UCASS survey frame corresponds to that of the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS).

The University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS) is a census produced from administrative data and, as such, is not subject to sampling error.

The UCASS is however subject to some other non-sampling errors. More specifically, the UCASS is subject to measurement errors and processing errors. To minimize these, Data is submitted into a data processing system and is subjected to validity and relationship edits. The most recent data year is compared with past years to detect any unusual or unexpected changes. For those records that don't pass the edits, data is passed back to the institution for verification.

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