Student Diversity Data Centre

The first Student Diversity Self-ID report showed the diversity of our student population in the 2018-2019 academic year. This was followed with updated data from the 2020-2021 academic year. Now, data from the 2022-2023 academic year has been added, which provides us with an opportunity to track progress over time.  

The data reveals  changes in representation from before the COVID-19 pandemic, through the pandemic and post-pandemic, helping us to better understand its impact on student diversity. Emerging patterns or trends can be used to assess the impact of our efforts to embed EDI into admissions processes and learning at TMU. The data can further inform student recruitment and retention strategies. 

More than 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students have completed the Student Diversity Self-ID questionnaire for a response rate of 98 per cent, an increase from 96 per cent in 2019. The results continue to provide snapshots of the data gathered from Student Diversity Self-ID responses.

Recent data shows that representation of women undergraduate students has remained about the same from 2019 to 2023 and continues to be above the community representation.  

Representation has increased for:

• racialized undergraduate students (from 48 per cent to 56 per cent), 
• Black undergraduate students (from 7 per cent to 8 per cent) and 
• 2SLGBTQ+ undergraduate students (from 8 per cent to 10 per cent).

These three equity-deserving groups now have representation that reflects the community representation.  

At a graduate studies level,  representation has also an increased from 2019 to 2023 for:

• racialized graduate students (39 per cent to 49 per cent)
• Black graduate students (4 per cent to 7 per cent) 
• 2SLGBTQ+ graduate students (7 per cent to 12 per cent) 
• graduate students with disabilities (6 per cent to 9 per cent)

While the data shows increased or unchanged representation for equity-deserving groups in undergraduate and graduate student populations, representation is not always evenly distributed at the program level. For example, the overall representation of undergraduate and graduate women students overall is high, it is low in some programs, such as some STEM programs. This highlights the importance of examining faculty and program-specific data. While it may appear as though there have been increases or stability in overall undergraduate or graduate student populations, a deeper look at the faculty and program-specific data provides trends occuring at a more granular level.

Academic leaders in faculties, departments and schools have the context to understand and act on the data. By collaborating with partners across the institution, such as the Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion, including Gdoo-maawnjidimi Mompii Indigenous Student Services; the Registrar’s Office; Student Affairs; Access TMU; the Curriculum Quality Assurance team and more, we can continue to remove barriers and increase access and success of students from underrepresented equity-deserving groups.

The Diversity Data Centre shares quantitative data from the Student Diversity Self-ID responses, which can be used to assess the current state of diversity at TMU and to discuss and explore issues so that barriers can be identified and removed. The data presented can inform evidence and dialogue-driven action toward enhancing the student experience and increasing student success. It can assist the university in all areas, including recruiting high-calibre students of diverse backgrounds.

Data are artifacts of human experience. Data doesn’t provide the whole story, but provides insights and identifies areas for further exploration. This availability of data has the potential to empower individuals, groups and communities, leading to personal, communal, environmental and even political change as these technologies become tools for reflection, discussion and decision-making.

For data to become meaningful to people, there needs to be a strong and direct connection to personal experiences, activities or situations. Connecting data to personal experiences enables interactions or understandings that leverage the data to create more informed and actionable objectives.

The navigation bar to the left provides links to pages with bar charts, one providing data on the equity group representation of undergraduate or graduate students by program in a selected academic year, organized by faculty. Another shows changes in representation over time, by program for undergraduate students and by faculty for graduate students. Data from the 2018-2019, 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 academic years is available in the bar charts. Data is only provided for the years programs existed. If the name of a program has changed, the program name for the 2022-2023 academic year is used.

In addition to reviewing the data in the bar charts, you can also download the data and convert it to an MS Excel file or CSV file. 

To protect individual privacy, data is only made available for programs with 20 or more students. To ensure data for as many programs as possible are provided, students in the same program, but in part-time, co-op or other options, are combined. In addition, some programs are combined, such as professional diploma programs in the Ted Rogers School of Management. In double major programs with less than 20 students, the data is added to each of the programs in the double major.

The Diversity Data Centre shares quantitative data from the student diversity self-ID responses, which can be used to assess the current state of diversity at TMU and to discuss and explore issues so that barriers can be identified and removed. The data presented can inform evidence and dialogue-driven action toward enhancing the student experience and increasing student success. It can assist the university in all areas, including recruiting high-calibre students of diverse backgrounds.

Data are artifacts of human experience. Data doesn’t provide the whole story, but provides insights and identifies areas for further exploration. This availability of data has the potential to empower individuals, groups and communities, leading to personal, communal, environmental and even political change as these technologies become tools for reflection, discussion and decision-making.

For data to become meaningful to people, there needs to be a strong and direct connection to personal experiences, activities or situations. Connecting data to personal experiences enables interactions or understandings that leverage the data to create more informed and actionable objectives.

The navigation bar to the left provides links to pages with bar charts, one providing data on the equity group representation of undergraduate or graduate students by program in a selected academic year, organized by faculty. Another shows changes in representation over time, by program for undergraduate students and by faculty for graduate students. Data from the 2018-2019, 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 academic years is available in the bar charts. Data is only provided for the years programs existed. If the name of a program has changed, the program name for the 2022-2023 academic year is used.

In addition to reviewing the data in the bar charts, you can also download the data and convert it to an MS Excel file or CSV file.  

To protect individual privacy, data is only made available for programs with 20 or more students. To ensure data for as many programs as possible are provided, students in the same program, but in part-time, co-op or other options, are combined. In addition, some programs are combined, such as professional diploma programs in the Ted Rogers School of Management. In double major programs with less than 20 students, the data is added to each of the programs in the double major.