In 1998, the Ontario government decided to enhance the accountability of colleges of applied arts and technology by measuring and rewarding their performance in meeting specific goals and outcomes. The government and the colleges worked together to identify and define the following five key performance indicators (KPI) to measure college performance: graduate employment graduate satisfaction employer satisfaction student satisfaction graduation rate Data on the first four KPI are collected by external survey consultants. Forum Research (FR) is under contract to the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and the colleges to collect and report the graduate employment, graduate satisfaction and employer satisfaction data. Each year, colleges provide FR with information to contact over 40,000 graduates. The survey collects information on the graduates' employment experience and their satisfaction with their college education. Six months after graduation, graduates are surveyed by telephone over a seven week period, three times a year starting in March, July and November. FR also conducts telephone interviews with the employers of graduates who have given permission for their employers to be interviewed. About 10,000 employers are contacted during the year to find out how they feel about the college's preparation of graduates to meet employers' needs. The survey begins three weeks after each graduate survey has been completed and is conducted in May, September, and January for a period of three weeks. You can view or download both the Graduate Outcomes & Satisfaction Survey and the Employer Satisfaction Survey here. The information collected from graduates and employers is used by colleges to demonstrate their achievements and to improve their programs and services. The KPI results by college are available from the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario's web site: http://www.acaato.on.ca/new/kpi/kpi2001.htm. The results are also available on the Ministry's web site: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/postsec/colindicator.html. Government uses the information graduates and employers provide to reward colleges for their achievements. In 2000-01, colleges received $14 million in provincial funding based on their graduate employment, graduate satisfaction and employer satisfaction KPI results. The allocation increased to $16.4 million for 2001-02 and has remained at that level in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Government also uses the depersonalized survey information to produce its annual Employment Profile of college graduates available from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/serials/eprofile00-01/index.html.
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