Ottawa (September 16, 2016) – The Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR) welcomed the announcement that Statistics Canada will be reinstating the University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS), as announced by Minister of Science, Kirsty Duncan.  The CCR has been calling for its reinstatement since its cancellation in 2012.

“Reliable data that is collected in a standardized manner is essential for effective resource planning and public policy” says Dr. Lisa Votta-Bleeker, Chair, CCR. “The UCASS gives us the information necessary for academic planning, the development of innovation-related indicators, and to track the representation of equity seek groups within post-secondary institutions over time.”

Information generated by the UCASS provides governments, higher education institutions, researchers and policy analysists with a detailed picture of full-time academic staff, including gender, age, principal subject taught, academic rank, salary and administrative stipends, and province or country of degrees earned. The CCR was also pleased to hear that Statistics Canada will work in collaboration with academic institutions to fill the data gap between 2012 to 2015.

Numerous Statistics Canada surveys have been discontinued in recent years as part of budget reductions. The CCR hopes that the government will also consider reinstating other Statistics Canada surveys such as the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), and the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). The discontinuation of these, and many other surveys, has left significant gaps in our understanding of the Canadian landscape.

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