Overview

The ministry collects certain data about students attending Indigenous Institutes in Ontario. We currently only collect aggregated data from the Indigenous Institutes and do not collect data with direct identifiers, such as student names. However, because the number of students in the aggregated data may be small in some cases, this data collection may include personally identifiable information. This means that it may still be possible to identify individuals from the aggregated information.

Types of data collected

We collect the following types of aggregated data from the Indigenous Institutes:

Program cohort data

We collect aggregated program cohort data, such as the:

  • number of full-time and part-time students enrolled in each program cohort at 3 different count dates during the year
  • number of students who graduated, withdrew, are eligible to continue in the program or who have an alternative student status
  • credentials obtained
  • tuition and compulsory ancillary fees
  • program delivery details (for example, cohort start and end dates)
  • number of students per program delivery location (for example, campus or community location)
  • per program delivery method (for example, online, hybrid or in-person)

Program-specific data

We collect aggregated data about:

  • student enrolment
  • service and support utilization
  • student placements
  • student graduation in specific programs (for example skilled trades programs, nursing, pre-health, and personal support worker programs)

Project and service delivery data

We provide grants to support various projects and services at Indigenous Institutes, such as the:

  • Mental Health Grant
  • Accessibility Fund for Learners Grant
  • Indigenous Student Bursary
  • Campus Safety Grant
  • Indigenous Targeted Initiatives Fund

We collect aggregated data related to the implementation of projects and services such as the number of:

  • students accessing mental health supports at the Institute
  • students receiving accessibility supports or services
  • students receiving bursaries
  • students and staff attending or accessing campus safety-related workshops, training or resources
  • participants in workshops, courses or receiving supports funded by the Indigenous Targeted Initiatives Fund

We may also collect qualitative data on the outcomes of projects and services that are supported by our grants.

How we collect data

When data is provided to us by the Indigenous Institutes instead of directly from individual students it is called an “indirect” collection of information. We indirectly collect the aggregated student data from the Indigenous Institutes pursuant to paragraphs 3 and 4 to 7 of subsection 15(1) of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act(the Act).

How we use the data

We use the data for the purposes set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 to 7 of subsection 15(1) of the Act, including for:

  • Planning, allocating and administering funding to the Indigenous Institutes, including informing and determining funding allocation decisions for the sector.
  • Planning or delivering post-secondary educational or training related programs or services funded by us, allocating resources to them, evaluating or monitoring them and detecting and preventing fraud and unauthorised receipt of services related to the funding.
  • Monitoring and evaluating the quality, outcomes and delivery of post-secondary programs and services.
    • This may include monitoring and assessing program and project outcomes to determine if targets under transfer payment agreements are being met.
  • Implementing risk management, error management and activities to improve the quality of these programs and services.
  • Planning and conducting research and analysis, including longitudinal studies and statistical activities, conducted by or on behalf of us for purposes that relate to post-secondary education and training.
    • This may include analyzing student and institutional trends to help inform the us and partner ministries on the outcomes and challenges of the Indigenous Institutes sector.

Sharing of data

We may share aggregated, unsuppressed data, such as data relating to student enrolment and graduation counts, with certain sector partners for these same purposes. Sector partners include the:

  • Indigenous Advanced Education and Skills Council
  • Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
  • Indigenous Institutes
  • Indigenous Institutes Consortium

We may share data with other third parties, such as external researchers, to support its funding, planning and research activities. Data would be shared in a depersonalized format to ensure individuals cannot be identified.

Typically, the process by which such data would be transferred, handled, and eventually destroyed would be set out in a data sharing agreement.

We may also share data with other Government of Ontario ministries for these purposes.

Contact us

If you have questions about this data collection, please contact:

Director, Indigenous Education Branch
315 Front Street West, 16th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M7A 0B8

647-278-6812
 ieb@ontario.ca