Institutional research and planning

The Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) team provides the data and insights that inform strategic decisions and support evidence-based planning at Durham College. The IRP team champions a data-driven culture across the College and enables other departments to achieve their goals through data collection, analysis, and governance. The IRP team also develops and maintains interactive dashboards that present data visualizations of longitudinal trends in applications, enrolment, retention, transfers, and other Key Performance Indicators. These dashboards are disseminated through the IRP-centralized Insights portal.

In addition, the IRP team is responsible for:

• Strategic-analysis projects to investigate and forecast trends in student and labour-market demand;
• In-depth environmental scans that support the development of new programs;
• Contributing to comprehensive quality assurance through established program review and renewal processes;
• Managing the Program and Enrolment Budget Planning Process;
• Program costing to inform program planning and resource allocation;
• Providing expert consultation on the design and implementation of surveys, including data analysis and reporting;
• Supporting the Strategic Mandate Agreement process through the development, monitoring, and reporting of college-specific and system-wide metrics proposed by the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCURES);
• The Student Learning Experience Questionnaire (SLEQ), an important quality assurance effort that provides timely information for formative faculty feedback.
• Responding to ad hoc data requests from Durham College leadership to inform academic and management decisions.

The IRP team’s practices are guided by the Canadian Institutional Research and Planning Association’s (CIRPA) Code of Ethics.