Transcript Bibliometrics/OST project

The Canadian G13:
The Case of a Multi-University
Data Exchange
Lucie Durand
G13DE Coordinator
30th Annual EAIR Conference Copenhagen
August 24-27, 2008
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Group of Thirteen Data Exchange
(G13DE)
Today’s presentation will focus on the…
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G13DE background
G13DE organization and structure
G13DE data items and projects
• Divisional Costs Data – Examples of application
G13DE interim evaluation
G13DE future direction
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G13DE Background
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Prior to the G13DE
Mandate
Mean
Implementation process
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G13DE Organization & Structure
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Constitution
Data Access Protocol
Information Disclosure Protocol
Operations resources
Chair & Vice-Chair
Coordinator
Steering Committee
Representatives
Caretakers
Means of communications and actual data and
information sharing
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G13DE Data Items and Projects
Data items and projects exchanged fall into
3 categories (apart from ad hoc projects):
Inaugural projects
 those that were assigned by the Executive Heads
on the creation of the data exchange
Foundation datasets
 data that all institutions submit to various
government agencies or that are collected
already by third parties
Self-generated projects
 self-initiated projects taken on as the exchange
has matured
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G13DE Data Items and Projects
Inaugural projects
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Senior Administrative Salaries
(Compensation Survey)
2.
Presidents’ Fact Book
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Divisional Costs Data
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Graduate Time to Completion
Foundation datasets
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CAUBO Financial Data
2.
Enrolment Data
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Degrees Awarded Data
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Faculty Data
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ARL Data
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AUTM Data
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Space Data
The G13DE database now has data on most of
all these items/projects going back to 1999
Self-generated projects
1.
Tuition and Fees
2.
Clinical Faculty Proxy Count
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CIP Coding (discipline crossindex)
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Graduate Student Financial
Support
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Federal Granting Council Data
(research data warehouse and
web portal)
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Bibliometrics
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Graduate & Professional
Student Survey (CGPSS)
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National Survey of Student
Engagement (NSSE)
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CSRDE (undergraduate
retention & degree
completion)
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Divisional Costs Data:
Examples of Application
Project Main Objective
 To have a tool for benchmarking and
planning (no university had ever had
such a tool prior to this one),
characterizing the direction of the G13DE
(then G10DE) → provide for micro-level
analyses of individual departments (Note:
“divisional” naming adopted to incorporate
both departments and schools)
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Divisional Costs Data:
Examples of Application
Project Development
(over a span of almost 6 years)
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Started with a pilot test of 6 departments (20002001 data);
Completed for 2002-2003 for 12 departments set of 23 data elements;
The exercise was expanded to more departments
→ starting with 2003-2004, have been collecting
on more than 30 departments, each year
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Divisional Costs Data:
Examples of Application
Project Benefits and Data Application
(examples as shared by G13 institutions)
 It produces, in a consistent format across all G13
institutions, departmental-level summaries of:
teaching activity, research output, enrolment,
expenditures;
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It is immediately useful to an institution (data can be
used with the knowledge they are reliable given the
comprehensive data definition dictionary);
It provides interinstitutional comparisons;
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Divisional Costs Data:
Examples of Application
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Results can be used to track internal departmental
changes over time;
Useful for academic and program reviews;
Useful for workload discussions;
Useful for resource allocation;
Use of these data prevents unnecessary
questioning when having to redevelop a budget
process;
Use to explore different questions at the unit level
(e.g. ratios of staff to teaching personnel and staff
to student FTEs; ratio of graduate students to
tenure/tenure track faculty, etc.)
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G13DE Interim Evaluation
After 7 years since its creation, a
current account of the G13DE…
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creates a useful network for informal discussions;
collective work of IR offices can result in large
savings (at data collection and analysis levels –
methodological issues);
dialogue and serious partnerships with important
agencies – adds value (credibility/influence);
rapid turnaround has been very successful on some
data sets;
improved definitions on some data sets (ongoing
process);
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G13DE Interim Evaluation
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now occupies a central position in IR work,
providing for reliable comparator data;
current need to consolidate projects into single
analysis and/or to introduce the data/reports in a
more formal manner to institutional strategic
planning;
need to share on strategies enabling better
information dissemination (internal and public)
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G13DE Future Direction
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international collaboration possibilities have been
explored with existing similar data exchange groups
with positive feedback;
such collaborations could involve issues of common
interests and of mutual benefits (e.g. quality
comparisons (benchmarking), public policy context
(research funding), best practices (methodologies),
etc.);
some constraints of course would need to be
overcome (e.g. resources, legal aspects (international
boundaries), privacy issues) though the G13DE
remains very interested by such opportunities and
plans on pursuing the exploration process at this level
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As a final word…
The process of creating a data exchange program
involving multiple universities can be achieved with
clear mandates and objectives;
Some critical success factors are however to be
considered in order to sustain it and making it viable:
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needless to say, institutions must be reasonably similar
(e.g. G13 universities) for purposes of interinstitutional
comparisons (peer based vs. issue oriented);
institutional support is mandatory from each member;
representation from each institution is crucial;
support from Executive Heads and senior administrators is
unquestionable;
maximizing the communication amongst institutions is
necessary as well as exercising full trust and judgement
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The G13 institutions are:
University of Alberta
University of British Columbia
University of Calgary
Dalhousie University
Université Laval
McGill University
McMaster University
Université de Montréal
University of Ottawa
Queen's University
University of Toronto
University of Waterloo
University of Western Ontario
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Thank you!
Any Questions?
Lucie Durand
G13DE Coordinator
[email protected]
www.data-exchange.ca
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