Glossary

View the most recent version.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

A

Aboriginal identity:

Refers to those persons who reported identifying with at least one Aboriginal group, i.e. North American Indian, Métis or Inuit (Eskimo), and/or those who reported being a Treaty Indian or a Registered Indian as defined by the Indian Act of Canada and/or who were members of an Indian Band or First Nation. In 1991 and previous Censuses, Aboriginal persons were determined using the ethnic origin question (ancestry). The 1996 Census included a question on the individual's own perception of his or her Aboriginal identity. The 2001 Census question is the same as the one used in 1996.

Academic rank:

This refers to a classification of university teaching staff according to level of academic appointment. Generally, the ranking consists of "full professor" at the top, followed by "associate professor". The "other" category refers to assistant professors, lecturers, and instructors.

After-typical-age graduation rate:

At the secondary school level, the after-typical-age graduation rate is calculated by relating the number of graduates whose age is greater than the typical age of graduation to the population at the typical age of graduation. The typical age of graduation is the age at which persons complete high school if they start at the prescribed age and experience no repetition or interruption in their schooling. The typical age of graduation is 18 for all jurisdictions except Quebec, where it is 17.

Average enrolment:

The total enrolment in elementary-secondary schools in a jurisdiction as of September 30 (October 31 for Ontario), divided by the total number of elementary-secondary schools in that jurisdiction.

Average number of students per school:

The total enrolment in elementary-secondary schools in a jurisdiction as of September 30 (October 31 for Ontario), divided by the total number of elementary-secondary schools in that jurisdiction.

Average school size:

The total enrolment in elementary-secondary schools in a jurisdiction as of September 30 (October 31 for Ontario), divided by the total number of elementary-secondary schools in that jurisdiction.

B

Birth rate:

Number of births per 1,000 population.

C

Capital expenditure:

Expenditures used to purchase assets intended to last longer than one year. It is also a measure of the value of capital acquired during the year in question. These expenditures include spending for the construction, renovation or major repair of buildings and to replace or purchase new equipment.

Career technical programs (by registration status):

These programs, which are offered at community colleges, prepare students to enter occupations at a level between that of the university-trained professional and the skilled tradesperson. Secondary school completion or equivalent is a normal prerequisite for entry. These programs require at least one school year of 24 weeks or more for completion. Most take two or three years and some take longer. One-year programs lead to a certificate and the longer ones lead to a diploma.

• Full-time/part-time:

  A classification of enrolment as either full time or part time is made according to institutional definitions. Since standard pan-Canadian definitions of full-time and part-time enrolment do not exist, it can be expected that the definitions used by institutions will vary somewhat.

Census division (CD):

A Census geographical unit comprised of a group of neighbouring municipalities joined together for the purposes of regional planning and managing common services (such as police or ambulance services). These groupings are established under laws in effect in certain provinces and territories of Canada. For example, a census division might correspond to a county, a regional municipality or a regional district. In other provinces and territories where laws do not provide for such areas, Statistics Canada defines equivalent areas for statistical reporting purposes in cooperation with these provinces and territories.

Census metropolitan area (CMA):

A Census geographical unit consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a large urban area (known as the urban core). The census population count of the urban core is at least 100,000 to form a census metropolitan area (CMA). To be included in the CMA, other adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the central urban area, as measured by commuting flows derived from census place of work data. Once an area becomes a CMA, it is retained as a CMA even if the population of its urban core declines below 100,000.

Coefficient of variation:

Coefficients of variation (CV) provide a measure of the reliability of the estimate, taking into account sampling variability. In order to estimate whether two values are statistically significantly different, the following formula can be applied to approximate a 95% confidence interval:

Y ± 2 (CV x Y)/100, where Y is the estimate

This approximate confidence interval gives a range within which the true value in the population is likely to fall. If two confidence intervals do not overlap, then there is a significant statistical difference between the two estimates. It should be noted that this formula is approximate because it estimates a confidence interval that is slightly higher than the 95% level of confidence. As a result, there is a small risk that a significant difference will be identified as insignificant.

College enrolment (by registration status):

Includes enrolment in career-technical and university transfer and university college programs of postsecondary non-university institutions as well as enrolment in radiography, medical technology, health records and registered nursing programs in hospital schools.

• Full-time/part-time:

  A classification of enrolment as either full time or part time is made according to institutional definitions. Since standard pan-Canadian definitions of full-time and part-time enrolment do not exist, it can be expected that the definitions used by institutions will vary somewhat.

Common-law:

Refers to two people of the opposite sex or of the same sex who live together as a couple, but who are not legally married to each other.

Community college:

Refers to community colleges, CEGEPs, technical institutes, hospital and regional schools of nursing, and establishments providing technological training in specialized fields. In counting the number of institutions, hospital schools of radiography, medical technology and health records are included.

Compensation of staff (educators and other staff):

Expenditure on compensation of staff includes gross salaries (before deduction of taxes, contributions for retirement or health care plans, and other contributions or premiums for social insurance or other purposes), plus expenditure on retirement (actual or imputed expenditure by employers or third parties to finance retirement benefits for current educational personnel) and other non-salary compensation (fringe benefits).

Constant dollars:

Constant dollars are derived by applying a price deflator to convert expenditures displayed in a time series to a price level that existed at a certain point in time (the base year). Constant dollars eliminate the changes in the purchasing power of the dollar over time. The result is a series as it would exist if the dollar had a purchasing power equal to the purchasing power in the base year.

Current expenditure:

Expenditures which an institution purchases and consumes within a year and which the institution purchases on an on-going basis. Examples of current expenditures include costs directly attributable to instruction such as salaries, instructional aids, administrative support, teacher development, and costs for other educators such as counsellors. In this report current expenditures are categorized further into:

• Compensation of staff (educators and other staff):

  Expenditure on compensation of staff includes gross salaries (before deduction of taxes, contributions for retirement or health care plans, and other contributions or premiums for social insurance or other purposes), plus expenditure on retirement (actual or imputed expenditure by employers or third parties to finance retirement benefits for current educational personnel) and other non-salary compensation (fringe benefits).

• Other current expenditures:

  Covers all non-salary related items such as spending on tuition fees and books, spending attributable to research and development, utilities, school services under contract, building operations and maintenance staff and so on. Other non-salary costs include those related to the maintenance of buildings as well as supplementary costs such as lunch programs and transportation.

E

Earnings or employment income:

Refers to total income received as wages and salaries, net income from a non-farm unincorporated business and/or professional practice, and/or net farm self-employment income.

Education expectancy:

Average duration of formal education in which a 15-year-old person can expect to enrol over his or her lifetime. It is calculated by adding the enrolment rates for each single year of age from age 15 onward.

Educational attainment:

Measures an individual's highest level of completed schooling, and is sometimes used as a proxy measure of human capital. Levels of educational attainment derived from the Census and Labour Force Survey are as follows:

• Less than high school:

  persons who did not graduate from high school.

• High school:

  high school graduates with no further education, or with some postsecondary education, but with no degree, certificate or diploma. Trade-vocational: persons with a trades certificate or diploma from a vocational or apprenticeship training.

• College:

  persons with non-university certificate or diploma from a community college, CEGEP, school of nursing.

• University:

  persons with a bachelors degree, university degree or certificate above bachelors, or certificate below bachelors degree.

Elementary-secondary enrolment:

The head count of students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools on September 30 of the school year (October 31 in Ontario). Coverage extends to students in public and private schools, federal schools and schools for the visually and hearing impaired, including students enrolled in pre-elementary programs offered by these schools.

Elementary schools:

Include public, private, and federal schools, and schools for the visually and hearing impaired. Schools are classified as elementary if they provide Grade 6 and under or a majority of elementary grades.

Elementary-secondary schools:

Include public, private, and federal schools, and schools for the visually and hearing impaired. Schools are classified as elementary if they provide Grade 6 and under or a majority of elementary grades, and secondary if they offer Grade 7 and over or a majority of secondary grades.

Enrolment rate:

The enrolment rate for a particular level of education, or a particular age group is defined as the total enrolment expressed as a percentage of a specified age group. For example, the pre-elementary enrolment rate is the number of individuals enrolled in pre-elementary education divided by the population of 4- and 5-year-olds. The enrolment rate for 4-year-olds has been expressed as the total enrolment of 4-year-olds divided by the total 4-year-old population. The population of a particular age group is the number of persons who are that age on July 1 of the year in question.

F

Federal schools:

Include schools administered directly by the federal government, overseas schools operated by the Department of National Defence for dependants of Canadian Forces personnel, and schools operated by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada or by band councils.

Fertility rate:

Number of births per woman.

Four major urban regions in Canada:

Montréal and adjacent region, the extended Golden Horseshoe, the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, and the Lower Mainland and southern Vancouver Island. These regions are not part of Statistics Canada's standard geography units. They were defined based on population growth and density for analytical purposes for the first release of the 2001 Census results.

• The extended Golden Horseshoe consists of the urban centres of Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton, St. Catherines-Niagara, Kitchener, Guelph, and Barrie.
• The Montréal and adjacent region includes Montréal, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Hyacinthe, Sorel, Joliette, and Lachute.
• The Lower Mainland and southern Vancouver Island consists of the urban centres of Vancouver, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack on the mainland, and Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo, and Parksville on Vancouver Island.
• The Calgary-Edmonton corridor stretches from Calgary in the south to Edmonton in the north and includes Leduc, Red Deer, and Wetaskiwin.

Full-time college educators:

This refers to all teaching staff, academic administrators, guidance counsellors employed full-time, as defined by the institution, with a contract of seven months or more. Educators on leave, presidents and principals are excluded. Teaching staff who spend at least 50% of their time teaching at the college level are classified as college educators; those who spend more than 50% of their time teaching at the trade-vocational level are classified as trade educators.

Full-time university educators:

All academic staff and senior administrators whose term of appointment is not less than 12 months. Presidents and vice-presidents are excluded.

G

G-7:

A group of the leading seven industrialized countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States. The group remained at seven until Russia, who had attended G-7 meetings as an observer throughout the 1990s, was invited to formalize this relationship in 1997 (hence the group became the G-8).

G-8:

A group of the leading eight industrialized countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Gender gap (salary):

The average salary of females as a percentage of the average salary of males.

Graduates:

• Postsecondary level:

  Students who completed the requirements for degrees, diplomas or certificates from university, college or other postsecondary programs during the calendar year of their graduation. Only graduates from public postsecondary institutions are included.

• Secondary school (from administrative data):

  Students who obtain a secondary school graduation certificate. Does not include people who complete high school outside the regular secondary school systems. Data on graduations from some secondary programs are not uniformly available across jurisdictions, and General Education Diplomas (GED), adult basic upgrading and education, and graduation from adult day school, which take place outside regular secondary school programs, are in most instances not included.

Graduate enrolment (by registration status):

This includes university students in master's and doctoral degree programs or in graduate diploma and certificate programs. Full-time graduate enrolment also includes hospital residents, and since 1980, interns.

• Full-time/part-time enrolment:

  A classification of enrolment as either full time or part time is made according to institutional definitions. Since standard pan-Canadian definitions of full-time and part-time enrolment do not exist, it can be expected that the definitions used by institutions will vary somewhat.

Graduation rates:

For college and university programs, graduation rates have been calculated by relating the number of graduates to the size of the population at a typical graduation age. For apprenticeship and vocational graduations, there is no expected age at graduation, and, consequently, graduation rates have not been calculated. The typical ages at graduation that have been used in this publication are:

• College: 21
• Undergraduate: 22
• Master's: 24
• Doctorate: 27

At the elementary-secondary level, graduation rates are calculated by relating the number of graduates of all ages to the population at the typical age of graduation, where the typical age of graduation is the age at which persons complete high school if they start at the prescribed age and experience no repetition or interruption in their schooling. The typical age of graduation is 18 for all jurisdictions except Quebec, where it is 17.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP):

Represents the total market value of a country's (or province/territory's) goods and services produced over the year.

H

High school leaver:

High school leavers are those who were not enrolled in high school and had not completed the requirements for a high school diploma.

High school leaver rate:

The high school leaver rate is the proportion of youth in a specified age group who have not completed their secondary education, and are not working toward its completion. In this report, the high school leaver rate is calculated for youth at 20 years of age because some were continuing their education after the typical age of graduation. This approach accounts for the "second chance" system in Canadian jurisdictions, whereby some youth who leave high school without completing their secondary education return to complete their studies at a later date.

Home language:

Refers to the language spoken most often or on a regular basis at home by the individual at the time of the census. In this report data are presented for persons of school age for whom the home language is neither English nor French.

Households:

Refers to a person or a group of persons (other than foreign residents) who occupy a private dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada.

Human capital:

The knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well-being (this definition has been developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and used for the purposes of this report).

I

Immigrants:

Refers to people who are, or have been, landed immigrants in Canada. A landed immigrant is a person who has been granted the right to live in Canada permanently by immigration authorities. Some immigrants have resided in Canada for a number of years, while others have arrived recently. Does not include non-permanent residents who are defined as people from another country who had an employment authorization, a study authorization, or a Minister's permit, or who were refugee claimants at the time of the census and family members living here with them.

Index:

Annual cumulative percentage changes in a variable from a given base year, expressed as an index with the base year equal to 100. An index value of 140, for example, 10 years after the base year, would indicate a 40% increase in the variable over that time period.

Indirect costs of research:

Those costs that are incurred by an institution by virtue of the fact that researchers conduct sponsored or intramural research with the support of the institution. They are expenditures that cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular project, instructional or other activity of the institution. Examples include the costs of the office of research or intellectual property management services, departmental administration, utilities, physical plant operation and maintenance, library, laboratory furniture and permanent equipment.

Intellectual property:

Discoveries, ideas and the like that can be protected for commercial gain. Includes inventions, computer software or databases, literary, artistic, dramatic or musical works, books, papers, educational materials, industrial designs, trademarks, integrated circuit topographies, new plant varieties, and know-how.

Inventions:

A subset of the overall intellectual property that includes any patentable product, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement of any of these, such as new uses of known compounds.

L

Labour force:

The portion of the civilian, non-institutional population 15 years of age and over who form the pool of available workers in Canada. To be considered a member of the labour force, an individual must be working (either full-time or part-time) or unemployed but actively looking for work.

Labour force participation rate:

The participation rate represents the labour force expressed as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over.

License:

An agreement with the client to use the institution's intellectual property for a fee or other consideration, for example equity in the company.

Licensing royalties:

Income generated from licensing (see "license").

Literacy:

The OECD initiated the Programme for International Student Assessment to provide policy-oriented international indicators of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. PISA assesses youth in three domains: reading literacy, mathematical literacy, and scientific literacy. These domains are defined in PISA as:

• Reading literacy

  is the ability to understand, use, and reflect on written texts, in order to achieve one's goals, to develop one's knowledge and potential, and to participate in society.

• Mathematical literacy

  is the capacity to identify, understand and engage in mathematics, and to make well-founded judgments about the role that mathematics plays in an individual's current and future private life, occupational life, social life with peers and relatives, and as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen.

• Scientific literacy

  is defined as the capacity to use scientific knowledge, to identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity.

Lone parent:

Guardians and adults, regardless of marital status, without a partner but with children in their care.

Low income:

The income level, conveyed by Statistics Canada's low-income cutoffs (LICOs), at which a family may be in "straitened circumstances" because it has to spend significantly more of its income on the basics (food, shelter and clothing), than does the average family. The LICOs depend on family and community size.

Low-income cutoffs (LICOs):

Represent an income threshold where a family is likely to spend 20% more of its income on food, shelter and clothing than the average family, leaving less income available for other expenses such as health, education, transportation and recreation. LICOs are calculated for families and communities of different sizes.

M

Medium growth scenario:

Assumes that fertility and immigration remain at their current levels throughout the projection period. It also assumes that Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia gain population through interjurisdictional migration and that all other jurisdictions lose population through interjurisdictional migration.

O

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):

A multidisciplinary international body made up of 30 member countries that offers a structure/forum for governments to consult and co-operate with each other in order to develop and refine economic and social policy. While the OECD does not set rules and regulations to settle disputes like other international bodies, it encourages the negotiation of agreements and the promotion of legal codes in certain sectors. Its work can lead to binding and non-binding agreements between the member countries to act in a formal way. The OECD is best known for its publications and statistics. Its 30 member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

P

Participation rates:

This is calculated by taking the total enrolment of a particular level of education as a percentage of a specified population group.

Patent:

A government document providing protection for an invention so that it cannot be made, used, or sold without the permission of the patent holder. Patents for a single invention are usually taken in various countries, as the rights conferred by a patent are limited to the country in which it is granted.

Per capita expenditure:

This measure divides the spending on education in Canada, or in a province or territory, by the total population, to show how much is spent on education per person.

Per student expenditure:

This measure divides the spending on education in Canada, or in a province or territory, by the total enrolment at a given level of education, to show how much is spent on education per student at that level. Total enrolment includes full- and part-time students. This measure makes use of full-time equivalents which converts the number of part-time students into a full-time equivalent by dividing the number of part-time students by 3.5.

Pre-elementary programs:

Pre-Grade 1 programs offered by public, private and federal schools, as well as schools for the visually and hearing impaired, generally targeting children 4 or 5 years of age. It does not include early childhood education programs outside the formal education system.

Private business colleges:

Private schools, licensed or not by a jurisdiction, providing professional and vocational training for profit.

Private expenditures:

Expenditures on education by households or other private entities (commercial and not-for-profit) consisting of:

• Fees paid to educational institutions (e.g., for tuition, registration, laboratory, lodging, meals and for other services provided to students by the institution). Note that Statistics Canada surveys only institutions and, therefore, costs for off-campus housing not provided by the institution are not included in the total amount spent.

• Financial aid to students or households coming from private sources (e.g., scholarships from business firms and religious and other non-profit organizations).

• Direct payments by private entities to educational institutions (e.g., contributions or subsidies to vocational-technical schools, contracts let to universities for research or other services, grants to educational institutions from non-profit organizations, charitable donations [other than from households], expenditures by private employers for apprenticeship training and other school and work-based educational programs).

Private schools:

Operated and administered by individuals or groups. They may be either denominational or non-denominational.

Private revenues at universities:

Revenue obtained from any source other than government, categorized as:

• Student fees:

  Payments obtained from students directly in the form of tuition and other fees.

• Non-government grants and contracts, donations and bequests:

  Financial support received by colleges and universities from donors, wills from grants and contracts from sources other than government, the latter provided with specific stipulations.

• Sales:

  Revenue from sales of services and products by the institution.

• Investment:

  Revenue from dividends, bonds, mortgages, short-term notes and bank interest.

• Miscellaneous revenue of colleges and universities:

  Commissions, royalties and fees from the use of institution-owned rights or properties, fees for services rendered, library and other similar fines, rentals, net gain or loss on the sale of fixed assets and any type of revenue not identified under other forms of revenue.

Public expenditures:

Refer to total current and capital expenditures at all levels of government. Public expenditures include:

• Direct purchases by governments of educational resources (e.g., direct payments of teachers' salaries by a central or regional education ministry, direct payments by a municipality to building contractors for construction of school buildings, procurement of textbooks by a jurisdiction or regional authority for subsequent distribution to local authorities or schools).

• Direct payments by government agencies to educational institutions that have the responsibility of purchasing educational resources themselves (e.g., government block grants to universities which they use to compensate personnel, a government subsidy to a private school, and government payments under contract to a private firm undertaking educational research).

• Direct expenditures designated for capital projects (e.g., building expansions or construction, laboratory equipment in support of research and development).

• Public to private transfers (e.g., financial aid in the form of government scholarships and grants, special public subsidies [such as for transport, medical expenses, studies abroad], family allowances or child allowances that are contingent on student status, student loans).

Public schools:

Established and operated by local school authorities pursuant to the public schools legislation of the province or territory. Also included in this category are Protestant and Roman Catholic separate schools and schools operated in Canada by National Defence within the framework of the public schools system.

Purchasing power parities (PPPs):

The currency exchange rates that equalise the purchasing power of different currencies. This means that a given sum of money, when converted into different currencies at the PPP rates, will buy the same basket of goods and services in all countries. In other words, PPPs are the rates of currency conversion that eliminate the differences in price levels among countries. PPP rates are not equivalent to general currency exchange rates.

R

Receptive vocabulary:

Receptive vocabulary in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) refers to the understood vocabulary of the child; that is, the number of words a child understands when he or she hears them spoken. A child's (or adult's) understood vocabulary level is measured relative to other individuals of the same age. In the NLSCY, receptive or understood vocabulary level is measured using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised.

Registered apprentices:

Based on data provided by provincial/territorial apprenticeship branches and include all individuals registered in an apprenticeship program, regardless of whether or not they had been enrolled in any formal classroom training during the year.

Registered apprenticeship completions:

Refers to those who received a Red Seal or provincial certificate for completing both the in-class and on-the-job training required by apprenticeship programs. The Red Seal or Interprovincial Standards Program was introduced in the late 1950s to make it easier for skilled workers to move across Canada without having to re-qualify in a trade when entering employment in a new province. This compares to a provincial certificate which is valid only for the province in which it is issued. The Red Seal is available in 45 trades at this time, in trades such as cabinet maker, machinist, motor vehicle body repair, roofer, bricklayer and welder.

Registered apprenticeship programs:

A program based on a contract registered with the province/territory, between the apprentice and the employer, in which the employer agrees to provide an opportunity to obtain the experience and skill required for a trade. Programs vary in length from two to five years, depending on the trade. Registered apprenticeship combines on-the-job experience with four- to eight-week periods of in-class training. In most jurisdictions, the in-class portion is usually taken at a postsecondary institution during the apprenticeship training. In Quebec, however, the in-class training is taken prior to beginning the apprenticeship program. Depending on the jurisdiction and trade, graduates of apprenticeship programs can receive both a Certificate of Apprenticeship and a Certificate of Qualification.

S

School-age population:

Comprises all individuals between the ages of 5 and 24, regardless of whether they are in school or not. This is the age range at which most people undertake their formal education.

Schools for the visually or hearing impaired:

Provide special facilities and training for visually or hearing impaired students. Most of these institutions are under direct provincial or territorial government administration.

Secondary schools:

Include public, private and federal schools, and schools for the visually and hearing impaired. Schools are classified as secondary if they offer either Grade 7 and over, or a majority of years at the secondary level.

Socio-economic status (SES):

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a term used to summarise a variety of factors, including parental education and occupation, that influence student performance. In PISA 2003, SES is measured by an index that includes information describing family structure, parental education and occupation, parental labour market participation, and whether a student's family has specific educational and cultural possessions at home.

Sources of funds for university R&D are categorized as:

• Federal government:

  Through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canada Foundation for Innovation and federal departments and agencies.

• Provincial governments:

  Including municipal governments.

• Business enterprises:

  Including donations, bequests and contracts from individuals and businesses.

• Private non-profit organizations:

  Including donations, bequests, and contracts from foundations and not-for-profit organizations.

• Foreign sources:

  Funding entities located abroad.

• Universities:

  Universities fund their own R&D using two revenue streams:

• General university funds:

  These represent government transfers (or block grants) to universities that are used to support R&D activity. Although in essence these funds represent indirect government spending on R&D, for the purposes of pan-Canadian statistics they are allocated to university funding due to the difficulty of categorizing these funds as provincial or federal. However in international comparisons, these funds are included as indirect government funding at the overall government level.

• Own revenue sources:

  This refers to self-generated revenue of universities from sources such as tuition fees, investment income, revenue from sales of services and products by the institution and license and patent incomes.

Spin-off company:

A new company created based on university R&D in which the university has an ongoing interest, established for one or more of the following reasons: (1) to license the institution's technology; (2) to fund research at the institution in order to develop technology that will be licensed by the company; (3) to provide a service that was originally offered through the institution's department or unit. Only companies started in a formal arrangement with the university are included (in other words, companies started independently by faculty members or students are not covered).

Sponsorship of university R&D:

Refers to university research that is supported either in the form of a grant or by means of a contract from a source external to the institution. Funding sources include government, business enterprises, and donors.

Step family:

A family in which at least one of the children in the household is from a previous relationship of one of the parents.

Student-computer ratio:

Total number of students enrolled in a school divided by the total number of computers in the school. This report uses data on this measure from PISA which in turn reports this ratio for schools in which 15-year-olds are enrolled.

T

Total expenditure:

Combined public and private expenditures on education.

Trades:

There are approximately 170 registered trades in Canada, each with specific standards and training requirements as set down by each province and territory. Provinces designate each trade as "compulsory" or "voluntary". In order to work in a compulsory trade an individual must either be registered as an apprentice or have the proper certification through completion of apprenticeship training. Voluntary trades also have apprenticeship programs, but registration as an apprentice or certification is not mandatory in order to work in the trade.

Trade-vocational enrolment (by registration status):

Covers students enrolled in the in-class portion of apprenticeship programs, pre-employment/pre-apprenticeship programs, academic and skill upgrading programs, language training, job readiness and orientation to work programs and special training. Trade-vocational enrolments only show enrolments reported by publicly-funded postsecondary institutions in Canada; enrolments in private post-secondary training institutes are not included.

• Full-time/part-time enrolment:

  Enrolment in programs of 25 weeks or more is identified as full time, while enrolment in programs of 24 weeks or less is considered part time. A large portion of the in-class training for apprenticeship programs is structured in study blocks of four to eight weeks, and would be classified as part time, even though the length of the apprenticeship program itself may be from two to five years. However, some jurisdictions, notably Ontario, identified the total weeks of in-class training over the whole apprenticeship period, and as a result, a large portion of the registered apprenticeship enrolments are included in the full-time data rather than the part-time. Full-time enrolment includes, for example, most of the pre-employment/pre-apprenticeship programs and some of the longer programs in academic upgrading, language and job readiness training. Part-time enrolment includes, in addition to the registered apprenticeship programs, most of the programs in skill-upgrading, orientation, job readiness and special training.

Trade-vocational programs:

Trade-vocational programs at community colleges and similar institutions are those that do not require secondary school completion and do not include continuing education or general interest programs. They include the following programs:

• Pre-employment/pre-apprenticeship programs:

  Provide basic training in a particular trade, offering entry-level skills for employment. These programs also offer the knowledge and skills required to enter an apprenticeship program.

• Registered apprenticeship programs:

  A program based on a contract registered with the province/territory, between the apprentice and the employer, in which the employer agrees to provide an opportunity to obtain the experience and skill required for a trade. Programs vary in length from two to five years, depending on the trade. Registered apprenticeship combines on-the-job experience with six- to eight-week periods of in-class training. In most jurisdictions, the in-class portion is usually taken at a postsecondary institution during the apprenticeship training. In Quebec, however, the in-class training is taken prior to beginning the apprenticeship program. Depending on the jurisdiction and trade, graduates of apprenticeship programs can receive both a Certificate of Apprenticeship and a Certificate of Qualification.

• Pre-vocational academic upgrading or basic training for skill development (BTSD programs):

  Designed to help individuals obtain or upgrade prerequisites in basic education to qualify for further training or employment. They are aimed at improving the students' knowledge in the basic subjects of mathematics, English or French, and the general sciences.

• Pre-vocational language programs:

  These programs offer a basic knowledge of English or French. As second language programs, they are primarily aimed at recent immigrants and others whose first language is neither English nor French.

• Skill upgrading or refresher programs:

  Designed to instruct students in new occupational methods and techniques. Students in these programs have prior training and work experience in their occupation, but require further training, in order that they may keep pace with rapid changes in their field often brought on by new technology.

• Job readiness training (JRT):

  Designed to increase the employability of students wanting to enter or re-enter the labour force. The program assists students by providing them with career exploration, job search, life skills and basic academic training.

• Orientation programs:

  Designed to guide students into trade or vocational occupations and provide them with job search skills. These programs are not designed to teach the skills necessary for specific employment but to provide the student with sufficient knowledge to pursue an occupation. Programs included in this category are career exploration, employment orientation for women, introduction to non-traditional occupations, industrial orientation.

• Special training and other programs:

  Includes training programs designed for the specific needs of particular groups, industries or communities. These programs offer classroom or on-the-job training, as well as both in combination, to counter skill shortages in the labour market. Also included in this group are trade-vocational and preparatory programs that do not fall into any other major category type.

Typical-age graduation rate:

At the secondary school level this is calculated by relating the number of graduates whose age is equal to or less than the typical age of graduation to the population at the typical age of graduation. The typical age of graduation is the age at which persons complete high school if they start at the prescribed age and experience no repetition or interruption in their schooling. The typical age of graduation is 18 for all jurisdictions except Quebec, where it is 17.

U

Undergraduate enrolment (by registration status):

University students in bachelor's and first professional degree programs, undergraduate diploma and certificate programs, and non-university courses offered in universities. In the 1970s full-time undergraduate enrolment also included medical interns. Since 1980, interns have been classified as graduate students.

• Full-time/part-time enrolment:

  A classification of enrolment as either full time or part time is made according to institutional definitions. Since standard pan-Canadian definitions of full-time and part-time enrolment do not exist, it can be expected that the definitions used by institutions will vary somewhat.

Undergraduate university tuition fees:

Undergraduate tuition fees charged to full-time Canadian students over the academic year, September to April. The undergraduate faculties used in the calculations are Agriculture, Architecture, Arts, Commerce, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Household Sciences, Law, Medicine, Music and Science.

Unemployment rate:

Shows the unemployed as a proportion of the labour force. The unemployed persons are those who, during the reference week, were available for work and were either on temporary layoff, had looked for work in the past four weeks or had a job to start within the next four weeks. The labour force is made up of the employed and the unemployed.

Universities:

These include:

• Universities:

  Independent institutions granting degrees in at least arts and sciences.

• Colleges of theology:

  Independent institutions granting degrees only in theology.

• Liberal arts colleges:

  Independent institutions granting degrees in only in arts.

• Other:

  Independent institutions granting degrees in specialized fields other than theology (such as engineering, fine arts).

University college programs:

These refer to degree-granting programs offered by community colleges. These differ from university transfer programs also offered by some community colleges, as the college offers the degree-granting program in its entirety (that is, all the years of the degree-granting program). Community colleges offering these programs are able to do so as they have been awarded degree-granting powers in certain fields or programs of study by the jurisdiction. University college programs exist in British Columbia and to a lesser extent in Alberta. Statistics on university college enrolment are not captured and reported by Statistics Canada as part of its university statistics program, but rather with its college statistics. As of the date of production of this report, data on university college graduation were not available. However these degrees will be captured by the Enhanced Student Information System (ESIS).

University transfer programs (by registration status):

Programs of postsecondary non-university institutions that require secondary school completion to enter, and which provide a student with standing equivalent to the first or second year of a university degree program with which a student can apply for admission to subsequent senior years at a degree-granting institution. The "général" programs of the Quebec CEGEPs, completion of which is a prerequisite for entry into Quebec universities, are included in this classification.

• Full-time/part-time enrolment:

  A classification of enrolment as either full time or part time is made according to institutional definitions. Since standard pan-Canadian definitions of full-time and part-time enrolment do not exist, it can be expected that the definitions used by institutions will vary somewhat.

V

Visible minority:

Refers to the visible minority group to which the respondent belongs. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour".