Algonquin is boasting a high graduate-employment rate of 90 per cent. But some graduates are wondering where those jobs are.

Algonquin’s graduate-employment reports are released annually as part of efforts to collect and report data from Ontario’s colleges. The school’s website still uses the 90 per cent rating despite the last two reports stating the percentage to have fallen to 85 over the past two years.

1. Student Response

Algonquin’s website lists the report as one of six different areas surveyed under the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) initiative, part of the Ministry of Training and Ontario’s colleges efforts to develop a process to obtain client feedback on post-secondary programs. However, the numbers can be misleading as a noticeable percentage of graduates do not respond to the survey.

For example, in Algonquin’s graduate-employment report of 2011-12, the number of graduates in the graphic design program was 67. The number of graduates who responded to the survey was 40, and the number of individuals employed in their field was 18. For some programs that have up to 80 graduates, the survey may only reach 40 or 50 of those graduates.

The response rate has held steadily around 60%  over the years. While this is a decent response, Algonquin’s Employment Support Centre is aiming for a better turnout. Currently, the survey is conducted by telephone, a method which Jennifer Jarvis, employment outreach officer, says is being looked into to see if alternatives are feasible and could produce a better response.

Response to the surveys appears to be on a slight decline over the last two years, and as of yet, Algonquin has yet to release its data for the years 2013-2014, and 2014-2015. Jarvis says that this is due to a delay in data processing.

2. Unrelated/ Related Work

The KPI surveys do, however, make the distinction between unrelated and related work and the above figures represent the difference in employment.

What the 85 per cent rate is based off of is the number of graduates who respond to the survey and answer that they are employed; it does not matter what field they are employed in.  Algonquin’s claim also does not take into consideration whether work is full time, part time, or contract work. The KPI surveys do, however, make the distinction between unrelated and related work and the above figures represent the difference in employment.

A more accurate employment rate: Up to 65% of grads find work in their field while 35% do not.

“The reports used to be mailed out to high schools in the Ottawa and surrounding area for guidance counsellors so that they could use it as a resource for students considering program areas, and what some of the outcomes were. So this is not the be all and end all, because it is just a survey. But it is an indication,” said Jarvis.  “The reports only reflect a fraction of the data.”

A 60% grad-employment rate for work in a related field is still a high percentage, but the 90% claim is certainly misleading for those selecting post-secondary institutions and basing their future success off this claim.