2000/2001 PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Measuring Graduation, Employment and
OSAP Default Rates at Lakehead
See also performance indicators for 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2002/2003, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11.
Lakehead University joined the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Council of Ontario Universities in a project to make information available regarding student's graduation rates, graduate employment rates, and OSAP loan default rates.
The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities calculated graduation rates by selecting all full-time, year one undergraduate students from Fall 1992 who were seeking either a bachelors or first professional degree and determining whether or not they graduated within 7 years. The subset was matched against the records for students who received a degree from the same institution during the period 1993-99.
It should be noted that students who transferred to another institution, for example to pursue a program that Lakehead does not offer such as medicine or dentistry, are not counted as a graduate in Lakehead's rate.
The graduation rate calculated for Lakehead University is 72.0%, which compares favourably with the overall Ontario university system rate of 73.7%. However, the mix of programs differs at each university.
1998 Graduates Employment Rate
To determine employment rates of recent graduates, Ontario universities conducted a survey of all 1998 graduates of undergraduate degree programs. Graduates were asked about their employment situation six months and two years after graduation. The first mailing of the 1998 Graduate Placement survey forms took place on December 11, 2000 and a total of 48,878 surveys were mailed. The second "reminder" mailing was mailed to 36,989 non-respondents on January 19, 2001. An overall response rate of 31.7% was achieved provincially for the 1999-00 survey. Lakehead's response rate was 36.1%.
The survey measures the employment rate of students employed or looking for work, as opposed to students who are continuing their education or are out of the work force for personal reasons, 6 months and 2 years following graduation.
The data indicate that Lakehead's 1998 graduates have performed better than the provincial average in terms of employment. Lakehead University's employment rates for 1998 graduates were found to be 95.9% six months after graduation versus 94.6% for the system overall.
At 2 years, 97.3% of Lakehead graduates were employed versus 97.2% for the system overall. This compares to last year's survey where the rate for Lakehead's graduates was 95.8% versus 96.4% for the system.
The system overall rate is the rate used in the performance indicators funding envelope and includes programs in the system such as medicine, dentistry and law where both the graduation and employment rate are virtually 100%.
The 2000 default rates reflect the repayment status of both undergraduate and graduate students who received Ontario Student Loans in the 1997-98 academic year and did not receive an Ontario Student Loan in 1998-99, and who subsequently defaulted on their repayment obligations approximately two years after graduation. An Ontario Student Loan is in default when the Ontario government has paid the bank's claim for an inactive loan. A loan is inactive when no payments were made by the student for at least 90 days. Responsibility for recovery of defaulted accounts was transferred to private collection agencies in January 2000.
For the purpose of calculating default rates, student loan recipients/defaulters are assigned to the last institution/program they attended in 1997-98. The status of these loans was assessed as of July 2000 or about two years after entering into repayment. Lakehead University's 2000 default rate for all programs is 7.9%.
For more information:
Kerrie-Lee
Clarke, Director of Institutional Analysis & Government Relations
807-343-8339
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