Brock's Work with EMSI Analytics

1. Brock University: Background Information
2. Why use Labour Market Information (LMI)?
3. Why EMSI (as opposed to other freely available LMI sources)?
4. What Brock's Current EMSI Analyst Report looks like?
5. What Brock's current EMSI Career Coach tool looks like?
6. Lessons Learned

• Established in 1964
• Main campus located in St. Catharines, Niagara Region
• Comprehensive University offering UG and GRAD level programs
• 2016/17 Fall Headcount: 18,704 students
• Office of Institutional Analysis and Planning: 3 staff members

• Not common for universities to connect academic programs to LMI.
• Former Brock president in the early 2000's tried to push for the marketing slogan, "Brock University - where careers begin", which didn't sit well with many academics. 
• Discussions at Brock started to change with the ministry's implementation of the Differentiation Policy in 2013. 
• In response to the economic downturn in 2008, this policy recognizes the fact that the province can't really invest as much in PSE as it did in the past (Ontario is now over $300 Billion in debt).
• The Differentiation policy provides a framework for PSE institutions to focus on their individual areas of strength, and reduce redundancy in programming across the sector, to allow for more efficient spending.
• Section 3.3 of the policy (Appendix A), identifies the 6 overarching goals of Ontario's Differentiation Policy...the first one being Jobs, Innovation and Economic Development. So this is one of the reasons why LMI is becoming a big part of discussions at Brock.
• Brock's SMA Agreement (Appendix B), identifies what our key area of differentiation is, and how we plan on meeting the overarching goals of the Differentiation Policy Framework.
• Brock's Key Area of Differentiation, "Undergraduate teaching excellence with foci on work-integrated, service, and small-group learning..."
• Times have changed from 10 years ago. Linking university programs to careers and LMI is encouraged by the province and it's likely that this information will play a factor in funding decisions in the near future.

LMI data sources that are already freely available without EMSI:

• Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS)
• Ontario Job Futures
• National Job Bank

Each public data source gives us bits and pieces of useful information, but is limited in the following ways:

• Does not let us drill down to the census subdivision level
• Does not let us aggregate NOC codes
• Does not let us map target occupations (or aggregate NOC codes) to academic programs offered at our institution (CIP codes).

EMSI brings all the data sources together and lets us slice and dice the data in ways that are meaningful to Brock.

Pros:

• Provides Job Openings and Job Seekers projected to 2024

Cons: 

• National level data only (cannot drill down to smaller regions)

E.g. Social and Community Service Workers in Canada (NOC 4212)

Pros: 

• Provides workforce demographics based on the 2011 Census including: Gender, FT status, Self-employed status, and unemployment rate.

Cons: 

• Many NOC codes are not covered
• Projection only to 2017
• Projection/Growth Prospect presented in the form of words: "Average", "Above Average", "Below Average".
• Number employed based on 2011 census (not current)
• Ontario level data only (cannot drill down to smaller regions)

E.g. Social and Community Service Workers in Ontario (NOC 4212)

Pros: 

• Provides # Employed, # Job Openings, and Wages at the Census division level

Cons: 

• Projection only to 2017
• Projection/Growth Prospect presented in the form of Stars:
  *** = Good; ** = Fair; * =Limited

E.g. Social and Community Service Workers in Hamilton-Niagara Peninsula Region (NOC 4212)

1. Beauty of EMSI lies in the ability to map a program code to a cluster of NOC codes (National Occupation Codes).  For universities this is important. We can’t be black and white with our program mappings.  A University program can lead to endless possibilities.  It’s up to each university to customize these mappings based on their knowledge of where their graduates are getting jobs. 
2. You can enter any region in Canada.  You can go broad, or drill down to the census‐ subdivision level. 
3. You can see historic employment numbers dating back to 2001.   
4. You can project forward to 2021. 5. The EMSI database gets updated with new data twice a year

https://brocku.emsicareercoach.ca/

• Career Coach is a web tool that each institution can customize (fully accessible to the public) to help prospective students answer the question, “What can I do with my degree at x university?”.    
• Prospective students could also ask a question such as, “I want to be a community service worker…what programs does x university offer to help me achieve this?” 
• Prospective student can select any region in Canada…the employment numbers will change based on the region selected. 
• For each NOC code mapped to the program, we have chosen to show: local job postings, average wage, job description, typical employers.  

• Program approval process with the ministry
• Cyclical academic program review
• Help prospective students paint a picture in their minds on what they can do with a degree at Brock.

• Work with department chairs to improve program to NOC job mappings
• Work with Brock's Marketing and Communications department to promote Career Coach in media outlets and recruitment events.

Feedback from Staff and Faculty at Brock:

• University programs cannot be mapped to individual NOC codes. We cannot be black and white with our program mappings. NOC codes need to be aggregated.  
• The message we want to send is, "There are many career possibilities and transferable skills learned with a university education"
• Showing growth prospects for one particular NOC code could be misleading to prospective students. Growth prospects should be shown for aggregated NOC codes.