Appendix
Understanding the data in the report
Only summary, aggregated data is reported. To avoid small numbers and protect privacy, some data are combined, such as students in full-time, part-time and co-op options for the same program.
Student diversity data comes from students who have completed TMU’s Diversity Self-ID questionnaire, which is part of the self-service functionality in the student system (MyServiceHub). Although the university requires that students complete the questionnaire, self-identification is voluntary, as there is a “Prefer not to answer” option for every self-identification question.
Students are counted in every equity and racialized group they identify in and so may be counted more than once.
Diversity data disaggregated by program is provided in a report card format, grading every program in terms of the representation of each equity group and of the three largest racialized groups in the student population and the GTA or Ontario.
Once the grades are assigned for a program, a total diversity score is calculated by adding up the points assigned for each grade and dividing by eight (the number of student groups) to find the average, represented as a percentage. Points are assigned for grades based on TMU’s grade points used for calculating GPA for undergraduate students, as follows:
| A grade | Points | B grade | Points | C grade | Points | D grade | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.33 | B+ | 3.33 | C+ | 2.33 | D+ | 1.33 |
| A | 4.00 | B | 3.00 | C | 2.00 | D | 1.00 |
| A- | 3.67 | B- | 2.67 | C- | 1.67 | D- | 0.67 |
Faculty percentage grades are then an average of the program diversity scores.
How diversity grades for programs are determined
The A+ grade is assigned to programs that have representation at or above the community representation. A to D- grades are assigned by dividing the remaining programs into 11 groups from highest to lowest representation, with the top groups assigned to A, A-, B+, and so on and the groups with the lowest representation are assigned to C-, D+, D or D-. All programs with zero representation of a group are assigned a D- grade automatically.
The methodology is assigned based on the following goals and conditions
- The purpose of the report card is to illustrate the uneven representation of students from equity and racialized groups in undergraduate and graduate programs, within the context of the aspirational goal of TMU students reflecting the community representation of equity and racialized groups across programs.
- An A+ grade is assigned to programs that have representation at or above the community representation.
- Minus and plus grades are used to establish groupings with smaller ranges of representation, so that we can better track our progress over time by showing changes in grade levels.
- Programs with the same representation for a group, to two decimal places, are assigned the same grade. This also means that all programs with zero representation for a group are assigned a D- grade.
Sources for community data compared with the student data
- Data for women and racialized people is from the 2016 Census data for the GTA.
- Data for Aboriginal Peoples is from the 2016 Census data for Ontario.
- Data for persons with disabilities is from the 2017 Canadian Disability Survey for Ontario.
- Data for 2SLGBTQ+ people is from a 2001 Toronto Health Survey.