Collectively, the federal and provincial governments spend billions of dollars each year on post-secondary education, but adequate data to fully analyse the effectiveness of that spending are not collected. A 2006 report by the OECD noted that Canada could not provide data on 57 of the 96 post-secondary education indicators used to compare countries.

Although the Council of ministers of education has started to fund the collection of some of the missing data, it is not a sustainable solution to the federal government’s underfunding of the education branch of Canada’s national statistical agency, nor does it make up for the entire shortfall.

For example, Canada does not currently collect information about the age of students when they enter or leave the post-secondary education system, nor are data collected on completion rates for higher education or the average length that a student spends in the post-secondary system. in a more general sense, Canada lacks much of the data regarding both the inputs and outcomes of the post-secondary education system.

In May 2010, the department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) announced that it would cease funding the youth in Transition Survey (YITS) and the national longitudinal Survey on Children and youth. These studies are primary sources of information on who pursues post-secondary education and who does not. Among other things, they provide vital information on students, their first post-graduation interaction with the labour market, and the relationship between education and employment. The YITS results are necessary for fulfilling Canada’s international commitment to provide the OECD with comparable data on postsecondary education.

Without the data supplied by these studies, it will be difficult for governments to make informed decisions about post-secondary education policies and priorities. The absence of this information will also make it extremely difficult to conduct further research regarding the post-secondary education system. While the impact of discontinuing this research is significant, the amount of funding necessary to properly conduct research on students and the post-secondary system is relatively small. An increase of $10 million, less than 0.3 percent of what the federal government spends on post-secondary education, would establish the resources needed to undertake this research.