Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) both participates in and undertakes surveys and studies that help to better understand the ideas and issues surrounding graduate level education. Results of these are used for policy development and improvement, program and faculty reviews, and improved process workflows. You may see these results presented in a departmental meeting or at the Board of Governors. The results are often peppered throughout the various university websites.
Studies use datasets from various university sources that are then processed, coded, analyzed and documented. Surveys look to graduate level students for participation in order to understand attitudes and issues from a personal perspective. Both studies and surveys are often done for both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses; as well they may involve participation at a national or international level.
The following represent some of our current undertakings.
PhD Career Outcomes
In 2016 G+PS undertook a survey of PhD students who had graduated between 2005 and 2013 to see what career outcomes they had achieved. The analysis included comparisons by research area, gender, cohorts, domestic vs. international, and mobility patterns. An interactive microsite and customized dashboards (accessible by faculty members) were developed to present the data, and all departments and faculties were provided with the raw data. We intend to repeat this study every five years which will allow us to look at career progression patterns.
Who can have Access? How to Obtain Results?
There are both public and restricted access websites available.
Public Access: https://outcomes.grad.ubc.ca/
Restricted Access: https://faculty-staff.grad.ubc.ca/data/phd-outcome-tracking (requires CWL)
Faculties and units were also given datasets of their alumni responses via UBC Workspace in April 2017.
Master’s and Postdoc Outcomes
As an extension to the PhD Career Outcomes study, G+PS is considering tracking outcomes of all master’s students and postdocs in a similar fashion.
Times To Outcome
Each year we undertake a study that looks at the current outcome status of our graduate students. We take a range of admission cohorts (currently four consecutive year sets) and then look at all the registration data as well as degrees awarded data to see where they are at currently. Are they still studying? Have they transferred programs? Have they quit? Have they graduated? We take the start and end points, remove any on-leave time, and calculate the number of years to their current status. These results are uploaded to our degree program listing.
Who can have Access? How to Obtain Results?
This information is publicly available in the degree program listing. Select a specific degree program and slide down to the Statistical Data. Where sufficient data exists Completion Rates & Times will be displayed. More detailed information is provided within Program Reviews and is available by faculties and units upon request.
U15 Studies
The U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities is a group of Canadian research universities that have come together to better understand the higher education landscape of Canada. Advocacy and policy development is a primary focus for the group.
CGPSS - Canadian Graduate and Professional Student Survey
The Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS), with the assistance of the U15, has undertaken a survey of graduate level students every three years since 2007. This study, the Canadian Graduate and Professional Student Survey (CGPSS) asks questions of currently enrolled students across Canada. For the 2016 and 2019 surveys 50 universities participated. UBC has participated since the beginning, with both Vancouver and Okanagan Masters and Doctoral students invited.
Who can have Access? How to Obtain Results?
G+PS has provided reports and datasets to faculties and units across the campus for the 2007, 2010, and 2013 periods as they occurred. You can find the latest Canadian Report for the 2019 period on the CAGS website.
Graduate Financial Support
A yearly study from the U15, G+PS uses our own dataset for a variety of purposes related to better understanding the funding landscape at UBC.
Who can have Access? How to Obtain Results?
G+PS provides this information in summary form via Program Reviews.
In 2020, G+PS started providing departmental summaries to all units. Updates are distributed annually.
Publication of aggregated data
In March 2021, G+PS started publishing an anonymized and aggregated overview of information for each PhD program in the degree listing. The information is located under "Tuition & Financial Support" with the heading "Average Funding".
Methodology
Data shows average funding for full-time PhD students enrolled in three terms per academic year in each program across years 1-4, the period covered by UBC's Minimum Funding Guarantee. Averages might mask variability in sources and amounts of funding received by individual students. Beyond year 4, funding packages become even more individualized.
- Teaching Assistantships exclude lectureships
- Internal Awards cover awards funded from UBC budget
- External Awards include government and other funding paid through UBC
- Other funding (employment income, work learn, co-op, government sponsorship, independent research agencies, etc.) are not included.
Limitations
- Please note that these historical values cannot speak to anticipated changes in future years.
- Some students receive funding from bodies that are linked with UBC but run separate payroll systems, so that this funding does not appear in these data. This is especially true for graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine so that their funding data does not reflect available funding comprehensively.
Times to Completion
A yearly study from the U15, using different methodology from our own internal study. The U15 picks a specific twelve month year as the starting point; transfers are considered to be withdrawn from their original studies with a fast-track on the subsequent program of studies. The study is term-based, requiring up to 27 terms for Doctoral programs and 15 terms for master’s programs.
G+PS uses the summary report from the U15 to provide basic benchmarking from a national perspective for faculty and program reviews.
Who can have Access? How to Obtain Results?
G+PS provides this information in summary form via Program Reviews.
Publication of data
G+PS publishes these data for each program in the degree listing, as long as enough data points are available. The information can be found under "Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats" with the heading "Completion Rates & Times".