2020-2025 Strategic Mandate Agreement: Ontario College of Arts and Design (OCAD) University
Read the agreement between Ontario and Ontario College of Arts and Design (OCAD) University to understand its unique role in the province's post-secondary education system.
This Strategic Mandate Agreement between the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and OCAD University is a key component of the Ontario government’s accountability framework for the postsecondary education system.
The Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA):
outlines provincial government objectives and priority areas for the postsecondary education system
describes the elements of Ontario’s performance-based funding mechanism, including the university’s annual performance-based funding notional allocation for the five-year 2020 to 2025 Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA3) period
establishes the corridor midpoint that will form the basis of enrolment-related funding over the five-year SMA3 period
supports transparency and accountability objectives
establishes allowable performance targets for 10 metrics upon which institutional performance will be assessed
This SMA is for the fiscal period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2025.
Ontario’s objectives
SMAs are bilateral agreements between the ministry and the province’s publicly-assisted colleges and universities and are a key component of the Ontario government’s accountability framework for the postsecondary education system. This cycle of agreements is focused on promoting accountability through transparency and a focus on performance outcomes. The following objectives underline SMA3:
increasing trust and accountability through transparency and improved performance outcomes in Ontario’s postsecondary education system
reducing red tape by striking an appropriate balance between accountability and reporting through streamlined processes and a reduced number of metrics
incentivizing colleges and universities to redirect resources and invest in initiatives that result in positive economic outcomes
encouraging alignment of postsecondary education with labour market outcomes
incentivizing differentiation and specialization to support increased efficiencies
Institutional profile
The ministry recognizes the importance of supporting a differentiated system, and recognizing institutional specializations, as a means of enhancing efficiencies in the postsecondary education sector.
The institutional profile is intended to describe how the university’s institutional mission and strategic goals support the priority areas of the Ontario government, as identified in this agreement. Institutions may also wish to include narrative related to the post-COVID-19 context for the institution.
Performance-based funding
Notional annual allocation
For the SMA3 cycle, OCAD University’s annual allocation of performance-based funding has been calculated by the ministry in accordance with the university funding model and Ontario’s Performance-based Funding Technical Manual. OCAD University’s notional allocations will not be impacted by previous year performance, and will follow a graduated activation plan as follows:
2020-2025 Strategic Mandate Agreements
Year
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25
Differentiation Envelope
$7,798,095
$10,049,511
$12,357,419
$14,638,371
$15,778,847
Performance-based Grant
TBD
TBD
TBD
$2,480,721
TBD
Notes:
Due to COVID-19 performance-based funding was delayed for 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23.
The planned system-wide proportion tied to funding (that is, Performance-based Grant) will be at 10% of system-wide total operating funding in Year 4 (2023–24) and 25% in Year 5 (2024–25).
Prior to Year 4 (2023–24), the Performance-based Grant was capped at the system-average annual proportion determined for the Differentiation Envelope and residual funding above that cap remained part of the Differentiation Envelope.
The Differentiation Envelope has continued to grow steadily towards the established initial level of 60% by Year 5 (2024–25).
In Year 4 (2023–24), the 55% of operating funding assigned to the Differentiation Envelope is inclusive of the activated Performance-based Grant.
Notional allocation represents the Performance-based Grant portion.
The notional allocations presented above are based on 2021–22 operating grant totals.
Institutional weighting strategy
The performance-based funding mechanism in this SMA enables institutions to assign metric weightings to reflect institutional strengths and differentiated roles in the postsecondary education system. Assigned metric weightings will impact performance-based funding on a metric-by-metric basis per the table below. Metric details are described in the following section.
Institutional assigned metric weightings and notional performance-based funding allocations
Metric
2020–21 weighting max. 35% min. 10%
2020–21 notional funding allocation
2021–22 weighting max. 30% min. 5%
2021–22 notional funding allocation
2022–23 weighting max. 25% min. 5%
2022–23 notional funding allocation
2023–24 weighting max. 25% min. 5%
2023–24 notional funding allocation
2024–25 weighting max. 25% min. 5%
2024–25 notional funding allocation
1. Graduate employment rate in a related field
10%
$631,025
5%
$430,502
5%
$558,162
5%
$124,036
5%
TBD
2. Institutional strength and focus
30%
$1,893,074
25%
$2,152,509
25%
$2,790,812
25%
$620,180
25%
TBD
3. Graduation rate
10%
$631,025
5%
$430,502
5%
$558,162
5%
$124,036
5%
TBD
4. Community and local impact of student enrolment
30%
$1,893,074
25%
$2,152,509
25%
$2,790,812
25%
$620,180
25%
TBD
5. Economic impact (institution-specific)
10%
$631,025
15%
$1,291,505
10%
$1,116,325
10%
$248,072
10%
TBD
6. Research funding and capacity: federal tri-agency funding secured
10%
$631,025
5%
$430,502
5%
$558,162
5%
$124,036
5%
TBD
7. Experiential learning
N/A
N/A
10%
$861,003
10%
$1,116,325
10%
$248,072
10%
TBD
8. Research revenue attracted from private sector sources
N/A
N/A
5%
$430,502
5%
$558,162
5%
$310,090
5%
TBD
9. Graduate employment earnings
N/A
N/A
5%
$430,502
5%
$558,162
5%
$124,036
5%
TBD
10. Skills and competencies
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
5%
$558,162
5%
$124,036
5%
TBD
Notes:
Colleges and universities have the opportunity to re-weight their metrics every year as part of the Annual Evaluation process throughout the SMA3 period. For metrics activated later than Year 1, a year in brackets indicates the first year of data available.
The planned system-wide proportion tied to funding (that is, Performance-based Grant) will be at 10% of system-wide total operating funding in Year 4 (2023–24) and 25% in Year 5 (2024–25).
Priority areas and performance metrics
Summary
To support improved performance in key areas aligned with the Ontario government’s priorities and objectives, the allowable performance targets will be set against metrics that measure institutions’ effectiveness in addressing the evolving needs of the labour market, enhancing the skills and competencies of our students, and supporting a postsecondary education system that strengthens Ontario’s economic competitiveness.
The combination of established targets and assigned metric weightings will be used for institutional assessment of performance through the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process.
Skills and job outcomes
This priority area seeks to measure and evaluate the university’s role in supporting student and graduate outcomes and alignment with Ontario’s economy. Metrics measure institutional commitment to areas of strength and specialization; students’ preparation with the skills essential for employment; experiential learning opportunities; graduation; and positive labour-market outcomes for graduates, through the following performance indicators:
graduate employment rate in a related field
institutional strength and focus
graduation rate
graduate employment earnings
experiential learning
skills and competencies
Economic and community impact
This priority area seeks to measure and evaluate the university’s role in supporting Ontario’s economy. Metrics measure the attraction of federal research funding; funding from private sector sources; the positive economic impact on local economies brought by students at an institution, and the differentiated ways institutions demonstrate economic impact, through the following performance indicators:
community and local impact of student enrolment
economic impact (institution-specific)
research funding and capacity: federal tri-agency funding secured
research revenue attracted from private sector sources
Productivity, accountability and transparency
Through further engagement with the sector on metric refinement, a decision was made to remove this reporting and data collection requirement for institutions for the duration of the SMA3 period, to reduce reporting burden and duplication with other government initiatives.
Skills and job outcomes
Performance metrics: narrative
Metrics will be initiated over three years as new data is collected and validated. For 2020–21, allowable performance targets are calculated using historical data as per the Performance-based Funding Technical Manual.
For the remainder of the SMA3 cycle, allowable performance targets will be calculated annually as per the Performance-based Funding Technical Manual using the most recent historical data available for OCAD University and included as part of the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process for performance-based funding. See appendix for details regarding historical data and annual allowable performance targets.
For the skills and competencies metric being initiated for performance-based funding in 2022–23, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities will apply a ‘participation weighting’ of five % of annual performance-based funding notional allocations for all institutions. Institutional targets will not be set for this metric in SMA3. Participation will be validated and included as part of the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process for performance-based funding.
Graduate employment rate in a related field Definition: proportion of graduates of undergraduate (bachelor or first professional degree) programs employed full-time who consider their jobs either “closely” or “somewhat” related to the skills they developed in their university program, two years after graduation Source: Ministry of Colleges and Universities - Ontario University Graduate Survey
Metric initiated: 2020–21
Institutional strength and focus Name: Design and digital Definition: proportion of enrolment (Fall, full-time equivalents (FFTEs), domestic and international, all terms for undergraduate students and Summer and Fall terms for graduate students) in an institution’s program area(s) of strength Source: Provided by institutions, validated by University Statistical Enrolment Report (USER)/Ministry of Colleges and Universities
Metric initiated: 2020–21
Graduation rate Definition: proportion of all new, full-time, year one university students of undergraduate (bachelor or first professional degree) programs who commenced their study in a given fall term and graduated from the same institution within seven years Source: University Graduation Rate Data Collections
Metric initiated: 2020–21
Graduate employment earnings Definition: median employment earnings of university graduates, two years after graduation Source: Educational and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform, Statistics Canada
Metric initiated: 2021–22
Experiential learning Definition: Number and proportion of graduates in programs, who participated in at least one course with required Experiential Learning (EL) component(s) Source: Institutions
Metric initiated: 2021–22
Skills and competencies Name: Transferable Skills Definition: A composite score representing OCAD U 4th-year students’ self-reported attainment of knowledge, skills, and personal development. Source: National Survey of Student Engagement (SMA3 Year 4) and OCAD U's 4th-year student survey containing the pertinent questions from NSSE (SMA3 Year 5).
Metric initiated: 2022–23
Economic and community impact
Performance metrics: narrative
Metrics will be initiated over three years as new data is collected and validated. For 2020–21, allowable performance targets are calculated using historical data as per the Performance-based Funding Technical Manual.
For the remainder of the SMA3 cycle, allowable performance targets will be calculated annually as per the Performance-based Funding Technical Manual using the most recent historical data available for OCAD University and included as part of the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process for performance-based funding. See appendix for details regarding historical data and annual allowable performance targets.
Community and local impact of student enrolment Definition: Institutional enrolment share in the population of the city (cities) or town (towns) in which the institution is located Source: University Statistical Enrolment Report (USER), Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Census Data, Statistics Canada
Metric initiated: 2020–21
Economic impact (institution-specific) Name: Number of institutional partners Definition: Count of partners with a fully executed agreement with the university which details the exchange of mutually beneficial benefits (e.g., cash, value in-kind of services or products, sponsorship, experience, access to talent, mentoring, research) with the exclusion of charitable gifts and business agreements Source: Institutional reporting
Metric initiated: 2020–21
Research funding and capacity: federal tri-agency funding secured Definition: Amount and proportion of funding received by institution from federal research granting agencies (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in total tri-agency funding received by Ontario universities Source: Tri-Agency Institutional Programs Secretariat
Metric initiated: 2020–21
Research revenue attracted from private sector sources Definition: Research revenue attracted from private sector sources Source: Council of Ontario Finance Officers (COFO)
Metric initiated: 2021–22
Productivity, accountability and transparency
Through further engagement with the sector on metric refinement, a decision was made to remove this reporting and data collection requirement for institutions for the duration of the SMA3 period, to reduce reporting burden and duplication with other government initiatives.
Enrolment profile
In addition to the performance-based funding outlined in sections above, institutions will receive enrolment-related funding through a funded corridor ‘midpoint’ to provide funding predictability to institutions. These enrolment corridor midpoints for universities were established as part of the 2017–20 Strategic Mandate Agreements (SMA2), and account for adjustments related to graduate expansion and teacher education achieved targets.
Corridor midpoint
For funding purposes 6,789.76 Weighted Grant Units (WGUs) will be the corridor midpoint value for the five-year period from 2020–25 for OCAD University. Enrolment-related funding will be distributed consistent with this level of enrolment and subject to the funding framework set out in the Ontario University Funding Formula Reform Technical Manual, May 2017, Version 1.0. Funding eligible enrolments are defined by the Ontario Operating Funds Distribution Manual.
Note: the midpoints presented in this table were established using final 2019–20 enrolment data.
2019–20 midpoint (A)
2019–20 funded graduate growth (master’s) (B)
2019–20 funded graduate growth (doctoral) (C)
2019–20 teacher education growth (D)
2020–25 SMA3 midpoint (A+B+C+D)
6,686.88
102.88
-
-
6,789.76
Projected funding-eligible enrolment
Note: tables report on Fiscal Full-Time Equivalents (FFTE). These include all terms for undergraduate students and Fall and Summer terms for graduate students.
Below is OCAD University’s projection of funding-eligible enrolments as of December 17, 2019.
Credential
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25
Undergraduate FFTE
2,960
2,976
3,008
3,106
3,112
Master’s FFTE
197
201
201
194
187
Doctoral FFTE
-
-
-
3
6
Total FFTE
3,157
3,177
3,209
3,303
3,305
Projected international enrolment
Below is OCAD University’s projection of funding-ineligible international student enrolments as of December 17, 2019.
Credential
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25
Undergraduate FFTE
1,004
1,150
1,310
1,482
1,744
Master’s FFTE
83
91
111
138
145
Doctoral FFTE
-
-
-
2
4
Total FFTE
1,087
1,241
1,421
1,622
1,893
Appendix: historical data, targets and results
The following table will be refreshed annually by the ministry to display results from SMA3 Annual Evaluation process and update Allowable Performance Targets (APT) for the current year. The SMA3 Annual Evaluation will occur every year in the Fall-Winter and the updated appendix will be made publicly available the following Spring. Please note that fields with a hyphen indicate where data will be populated in later years of SMA3.
It should be noted that historical data reflects pre-COVID-19 context. Actual values achieved during the SMA3 period may include COVID-19 pandemic impacts.
Note: The value in the 2020–21 Actual performance column of “Experiential learning “(row 7) was not tied to performance as this metric was not activated. It is included in the calculation of the 2022–23 Allowable Performance Targets.
OCAD University - SMA3 Algoma University - SMA3 performance Note: “2020–21 Actual performance” refers to the year in which the evaluation takes place and not necessarily the data from that year.
Metric
2016–17 Historical data
2017–18 Historical data
2018–19 Historical data
2020–21 Allowable performance target
2020–21 Actual performance
2021‑22 Allowable performance target
2021–22 Actual performance
2022–23 Allowable performance target
2022–23 Actual performance
2023–24 Allowable performance target
2023–24 Actual performance
2024–25 Allowable performance target
2024-25 Actual performance
1. Graduate employment rate in a related field
82.48%
80.95%
81.62%
81.25%
77.78%
78.55%
78.00%
77.37%
90.07%
75.70%
-
-
-
2. Institutional strength and focus
54.69%
54.80%
54.30%
51.79%
53.39%
50.87%
54.26%
50.87%
52.78%
50.87%
-
-
-
3. Graduation rate
68.20%
64.69%
68.80%
66.67%
63.10%
64.55%
66.34%
64.67%
64.25%
63.89%
-
-
-
4. Community and local impact of student enrolment
8. Research revenue attracted from private sector sources
$1,103,000
$1,239,333
$1,619,000
N/A
N/A
$1,143,607
$1,782,000
$1,361,815
$1,704,000
$1,651,130
-
-
-
9. Graduate employment earnings
$31,292
$31,945
$32,931
N/A
N/A
$31,863
$33,712
$32,725
$30,245
$30,984
-
-
-
10. Skills and competencies
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
-
-
-
Notes:
For metrics activated later than Year 1, the year in brackets indicates the first year of data available.
Skills and Competencies is a participation metric activated based on data collection and reporting rather than target setting. Data are required and will be posted in SMA3 Year 4 (2023-24) and Year 5 (2024-25).
OCAD University tri-agency research funding amounts: