NATVAC/CAUBO/ QNU - October 16-18, 2013

1. NATVAC/CAUBO/QNU - October 16-18, 2013 National Faculty Data Pool: Successor to UCASS

2. Recap of NATVAC 2012 • UCASS Successor Project • National Faculty Data Pool • Q & A and Discussion NATVAC 2013 Overview

3. What is Common University Data for Canada? CUDC is an initiative overseen by NATVAC and designed to meet the following objectives: • Provide useful comparative information about Canadian universities to students, their families, members of the university community, media, and the public, • Answer some common questions posed by prospective students and their families regarding the student experience at individual universities, • Enhance the public accountability of Canadian universities, • Provide an efficient means of responding to requests for information from the media intending to use university data for publication purposes. Recap of NATVAC 2012

4. CUDC National Steering Committee

5. Common University Data Model Recap of NATVAC 2012

6. Common University Data Model (con’d) • Hosted by AUCC • Website: mercury.aucc.ca/wds • Username: commondata • Password: natvac Recap of NATVAC 2012

7. Proposal for a Successor to UCASS • That the CUDC National Steering Committee, in consultation with representatives of Western University, OCAV, the U15, and CAUBO, issue an invitation to all AUCC member institutions to participate in a national project to continue the collection of data formerly collected by Statistics Canada through UCASS; • That the existing agreements between WU and the OCAV data exchange members be used as a model for developing the protocol for data collection, cleaning, validation, storage, and access; • That a fee for this service be negotiated by the CUDC NSC with WU that is comparable to what is currently charged to OCAV data exchange members; • That the CUDC National Steering Committee, in consultation with other stakeholders, discuss outstanding issues such as protocols for the publication and sharing of data with external organizations (e.g., faculty unions, national bodies, government, media). Recap of NATVAC 2012

8. Responses to the CUDC invitation • At the end of Nov 2012, all 96 AUCC member institutions were sent a letter of invitation to participate in the UCASS successor project. Some institutions did not reply by virtue of their membership in other organizations that had previously expressed interest. • 19 OCAV universities committed to the project. • At the time CREPUQ planned to continue collecting salary data and discussions were underway to secure an agreement to access these records. The future of CREPUQ is now unclear. However, its full participation would add 19 institutions from QC. • 9 of the U15 universities were included through there membership in OCAV and CREPUQ. The other 6 also expressed interest individually. • 21 other institutions, not affiliated with the above, expressed interest. UCASS Successor Project

9. Responses to the CUDC invitation (cont’d) • Summary: 64 out of the 96 AUCC members (explicitly or implicitly) responded positively to the initiative (67%). This was viewed as a very promising result (and with some additional personal contact the percentage could have been driven even higher). UCASS Successor Project

10. Other Development Activities • The CUDC NSC Chair participated in the March 2013 U15 Data Exchange teleconference to provide an update and request the U15's endorsement of the project. • The CUDC NSC Chair engaged in a series of intensive exchanges with Dr. Alan Weedon at WU to explore using the OCAV DE framework as a possible model for implementing the successor to UCASS. The outcomes included: • WU committed to hosting the successor national database. • The recently revised OCAV DE constitution was evaluated as a potential mechanism for AUCC institutions to pool faculty demographic and salary data with the OCAV DE. • The cost for participating in the data pool was estimated be a maximum of $4,000. A draft set of standard analyses and reports were proposed by WU for these fees. • Principles were discussed governing the approval of requests for information and reports from external organizations. UCASS Successor Project

11. Other Development Activities (con’d) • CAUBO and FBS voiced considerable interest in and support for the UCASS successor initiative. The CUDC NSC Chair met with Dr. Brett Fairbairn (Chair, FBS Management Committee) and Dr. Sharon Cochran (Director, FBS) in May 2013 to brief them on developments. • At the May 2013 teleconference of the CUDC NSC it was recommended that an implementation committee of stakeholders be established to advance the UCASS successor project. UCASS Successor Project

12. UCASS Successor Implementation Committee

13. Implementation Committee Mandate • Finalize an agreement with WU to host the UCASS successor database and negotiate a data-pooling protocol, fee structure, and standard analyses and reports. • Consult with CREPUQ to determine its level of interest in participating in the UCASS successor project. • Accommodate non-OCAV/non-CREPUQ institutions who responded positively to the CUDC invitation. UCASS Successor Project

14. Participation in the NFDP • On September 9, 2013 a letter was distributed to all 98 AUCC member institutions inviting them to join the successor to UCASS, called the National Faculty Data Pool (NFDP) • Accompanying documents: • A summary outlining the expectations and deliverables for the NFDP, • A MOU describing the governance and operational models for the NFDP, • An authorization form specifying the institutional contacts for the NFDP. National Faculty Data Pool

15. Responses to Date National Faculty Data Pool

16. Initial Principles of NFDP Operation • This is the first iteration of the NFDP; it will evolve over time to meet the ongoing needs of members. • UCASS data collection, analysis, and reporting are replicated as closely as possible. Consequences: • Analysis and reporting will initially mimic StatsCan’s typical scope for UCASS. • Like UCASS the NFDP is a data pool, not a data exchange. • The NFDP is designed so as not to intrude on the operations of other well-established data exchanges (e.g., OCAV-DE, U15-DE) National Faculty Data Pool

17. Some Other Issues • StatsCan’sreputation as an unbiased data manager lent considerable credibility to the UCASS data. CAUT and faculty associations/unions may not have the same view of data collected by university administrators. Data verification remains an issue, but could be resolved through the use of third-party audits or institutional-level processes. • The initial strategy to avoid entanglements with FIPPA legislation across provinces needs to be scrutinized by individual jurisdictions. • Further discussion is required regarding how best to manage requests from external organizations (e.g., CAUT, CMEC, individual faculty associations/unions) for analyses and reports of NFDP data. A working group may need to be established to develop a proposal for the CUDC NSC. National Faculty Data Pool