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Introduction

Preamble

This Strategic Mandate Agreement between the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and Algonquin College is a key component of the �������� government’s accountability framework for the postsecondary education system.

The Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA):

• outlines provincial government objectives and priority areas for the postsecondary education system
• describes the elements of ��������’s performance-based funding mechanism, including the college’s annual performance-based funding notional allocation for the five-year 2020 to 2025 Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA3) period
• establishes the corridor midpoint that will form the basis of enrolment-related funding over the five-year SMA3 period
• supports transparency and accountability objectives
• establishes allowable performance targets for 10 metrics upon which institutional performance will be assessed

This SMA is for the fiscal period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2025.

��������’s objectives

SMAs are bilateral agreements between the ministry and the province’s publicly-assisted colleges and universities and are a key component of the �������� government’s accountability framework for the postsecondary education system. This cycle of agreements is focused on promoting accountability through transparency and a focus on performance outcomes. The following objectives underline SMA3:

• increasing trust and accountability through transparency and improved performance outcomes in ��������’s postsecondary education system
• reducing red tape by striking an appropriate balance between accountability and reporting through streamlined processes and a reduced number of metrics
• incentivizing colleges and universities to redirect resources and invest in initiatives that result in positive economic outcomes
• encouraging alignment of postsecondary education with labour market outcomes
• incentivizing differentiation and specialization to support increased efficiencies

Institutional profile

The ministry recognizes the importance of supporting a differentiated system, and recognizing institutional specializations, as a means of enhancing efficiencies in the postsecondary education sector.

The institutional profile is intended to describe how the college’s institutional mission and strategic goals support the priority areas of the �������� government, as identified in this agreement. Institutions may also wish to include narrative related to the post-COVID-19 context for the institution.

Performance-based funding

Notional annual allocation

For the SMA3 cycle, Algonquin College’s annual allocation of performance-based funding has been calculated by the ministry in accordance with the college funding model and ��������’s Performance-based Funding Technical Manual. Algonquin College’s notional allocations will not be impacted by previous year performance, and will follow a graduated activation plan as follows:

Notes:

1. Due to COVID-19 performance-based funding was delayed for 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23.
2. The planned system-wide proportion tied to funding (that is, Performance-based Grant) will be at 10% of system-wide total operating funding in Year 4 (2023–24) and 25% in Year 5 (2024–25).
3. Prior to Year 4 (2023–24), the Performance-based Grant was capped at the system-average annual proportion determined for the Differentiation Envelope and residual funding above that cap remained part of the Differentiation Envelope.
4. The Differentiation Envelope has continued to grow steadily towards the established initial level of 60% by Year 5 (2024–25).
5. In Year 4 (2023–24), the 55% of operating funding assigned to the Differentiation Envelope is inclusive of the activated Performance-based Grant.
6. Notional allocation represents the Performance-based Grant portion.
7. The notional allocations presented above are based on 2021–22 operating grant totals.

Institutional weighting strategy

The performance-based funding mechanism in this SMA enables institutions to assign metric weightings to reflect institutional strengths and differentiated roles in the postsecondary education system. Assigned metric weightings will impact performance-based funding on a metric-by-metric basis per the table below. Metric details are described in the following section.

Notes:

1. Colleges and universities have the opportunity to re-weight their metrics every year as part of the Annual Evaluation process throughout the SMA3 period. For metrics activated later than Year 1, a year shown in brackets indicates the first year of data available.
2. The planned system-wide proportion tied to funding (that is, Performance-based Grant) will be at 10% of system-wide total operating funding in Year 4 (2023–24) and 25% in Year 5 (2024–25).

Priority areas and performance metrics

Summary

To support improved performance in key areas aligned with the �������� government’s priorities and objectives, the allowable performance targets will be set against metrics that measure institutions’ effectiveness in addressing the evolving needs of the labour market, enhancing the skills and competencies of our students, and supporting a postsecondary education system that strengthens ��������’s economic competitiveness.

The combination of established targets and assigned metric weightings will be used for institutional assessment of performance through the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process

Skills and job outcomes

This priority area seeks to measure and evaluate the college’s role in supporting student and graduate outcomes and alignment with ��������’s economy. Metrics measure institutional commitment to areas of strength and specialization; students’ preparation with the skills essential for employment; experiential learning opportunities; graduation; and positive labour–market outcomes for graduates, through the following performance indicators:

• graduate employment rate in a related field
• institutional strength and focus
• graduation rate
• graduate employment earnings
• experiential learning
• skills and competencies

Economic and community impact

This priority area seeks to measure and evaluate the college’s role in supporting ��������’s economy. Metrics measure funding from private sector sources; the positive economic impact on local economies brought by students at an institution; and the differentiated ways institutions demonstrate economic impact, through the following performance indicators:

• community and local impact of student enrolment
• economic impact (institution-specific)
• revenue attracted from private sector sources
• apprenticeship-related (institution-specific)

Productivity, accountability and transparency

Through further engagement with the sector on metric refinement, a decision was made to remove this reporting and data collection requirement for institutions for the duration of the SMA3 period, to reduce reporting burden and duplication with other government initiatives.

Skills and job outcomes

Performance metrics: narrative

Metrics will be initiated over three years as new data is collected and validated. For 2020–21, allowable performance targets are calculated using historical data as per the Performance-based Funding Technical Manual.

For the remainder of the SMA3 cycle, allowable performance targets will be calculated annually as per the Performance-based Funding Technical Manual using the most recent historical data available for Algonquin College and included as part of the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process for performance-based funding. See appendix for details regarding historical data and annual allowable performance targets.

For the skills and competencies metric being initiated for performance-based funding in 2022–23, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities will apply a ‘participation weighting’ of 5% of annual performance-based funding notional allocations for all institutions. Institutional targets will not be set for this metric in SMA3. Participation will be validated and included as part of the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process for performance-based funding.

Graduate employment rate in a related field
Definition: proportion of graduates employed full-time in a field related or partially related to their program six months after graduation
Source: College Graduate Outcomes Survey, Ministry of Colleges and Universities

Metric initiated: 2020–21

Institutional strength and focus
Name: Health and Wellness; Engineering and Technology; Management, Administration and Leadership
Definition: enrolment (full-time headcount, domestic and international) in an institution’s program area(s) of focus
Source: Provided by institutions, validated by College Statistical Enrolment Report (CSER), Ministry of Colleges and Universities

Metric initiated: 2020–21

Graduation rate
Definition: percentage of full-time students (domestic and international), who entered a program of instruction in a particular enrolment reporting period and graduated within a specific period of time (200% program completion timeframe for diploma and certificate programs and 175% for degrees)
Source: Graduate Rate Submission Process, College Graduation Rate Tool

Metric initiated: 2020–21

Graduate employment earnings
Definition: median employment earnings of college graduates in a given calendar year, two years after graduation
Source: Educational and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform, Statistics Canada

Metric initiated: 2021–22

Experiential learning
Definition: number and proportion of graduates in programs, who participated in at least one course with required Experiential Learning component(s)
Source: Ministry of Colleges and University’s Graduate Record File Data; File attached to College Graduate Outcomes Survey

Metric initiated: 2021–22

Skills and competencies

Name: Job Skills and Competencies Preparedness
Definition:  Percentage of Algonquin College graduates who were satisfied / very satisfied with their educational preparation in the area of job related skills and competencies, including oral and written communication, comprehension, math and computer skills, critical thinking and problem solving as examples (complete list of skills is included in the narrative below)
Source: College Graduate Outcomes and Employer Satisfaction Survey

Metric initiated: 2022–23

Economic and community impact

Performance metrics: narrative

Metrics will be initiated over three years as new data is collected and validated. For 2020–21, allowable performance targets are calculated using historical data as per the Performance–based Funding Technical Manual.

For the remainder of the SMA3 cycle, allowable performance targets will be calculated annually as per the Performance–based Funding Technical Manual using the most recent historical data available for Algonquin College and included as part of the SMA3 Annual Evaluation process for performance–based funding. See appendix for details regarding historical data and annual allowable performance targets.

Community and local impact of student enrolment
Definition: institutional enrolment share in the population of the city (cities) or town (towns) in which the institution is located
Source: College Statistical Enrolment Report (CSER), Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Census Data, Statistics Canada

Metric initiated: 2020–21

Economic impact (institution-specific)
Name: Algonquin College Student Co-op Placements
Definition: The number of student co-op placements during the academic year
Source: Algonquin College Co-op Office placement report

Metric initiated: 2020–21

Revenue attracted from private sector sources
Definition: total revenue attracted from private sector and not-for-profit sources
Source: College Financial Information System

Metric initiated: 2021–22

Apprenticeship-related (institution-specific)
Name: Algonquin College Skilled Trades Programming Graduates
Definition: Number of graduates from Algonquin College Skilled Trades Programs
Source: Algonquin College Student Information System

Metric initiated: 2022–23

Productivity, accountability and transparency

Through further engagement with the sector on metric refinement, a decision was made to remove this reporting and data collection requirement for institutions for the duration of the SMA3 period, to reduce reporting burden and duplication with other government initiatives.

Enrolment profile

In addition to the performance-based funding outlined in sections above, institutions will receive enrolment-related funding through a funded corridor ‘midpoint’ to provide funding predictability to institutions.

Corridor midpoint

For funding purposes 23,048.36 Weighted Funding Units (WFUs) will be the corridor midpoint value for the five-year period from 2020–25 for Algonquin College. Enrolment-related funding will be will distributed consistent with this level of enrolment and subject to the policies contained within the �������� College Funding Formula Reform Technical Manual, May 2017, Version 1.1.

Note: Midpoints were established using the average of funding-eligible enrolment from 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18.

Projected funding-eligible enrolment

Note: Tables report on full-time headcounts from the fall term.

Below is Algonquin College’s projection of funding-eligible full-time headcount as of July 13, 2020.

Projected international enrolment

Below is Algonquin College’s projection of funding-ineligible international full-time headcount at college-operated campuses as of July 13, 2020.

Appendix: historical data, targets and results

The following table will be refreshed annually by the ministry to display results from SMA3 Annual Evaluation process and update Allowable Performance Targets (APT) for the current year. The SMA3 Annual Evaluation will occur every year in the Fall-Winter and the updated appendix will be made publicly available the following Spring. Please note that fields with a hyphen indicate where data will be populated in later years of SMA3.

It should be noted that historical data reflects pre-COVID-19 context. Actual values achieved during the SMA3 period may include COVID-19 pandemic impacts.

Note: The values in the 2020–21 Actual performance column of “Experiential learning“ (row 7) and for “Revenue attracted from private sector sources” (row 8) were not tied to performance as these metrics were not yet activated. They are included in the calculation of the 2022–23 Allowable Performance Targets.

Notes:

1. For metrics activated later than Year 1, the year in brackets indicates the first year of data available.
2. Skills and Competencies is a participation metric activated based on data collection and reporting rather than target setting. Data are required and will be posted in SMA3 Year 4 (2023-24) and Year 5 (2024-25).