More information
about searching the database
Database search FAQ
What information is stored in the database?
Our database provides information about programs offered by AUCC member universities that generally lead to a degree, certificate or diploma. It will tell you about the level of the program, its language of instruction and other basic information. To get further details, each program record has a link to a relevant university website. The database does not generally provide information about courses offered within a program.
How often do you collect and update the information?
The program information is collected and updated by AUCC staff and staff at member universities. We send out a request once a year to verify program information, primarily to registrar's offices and schools of graduate studies. Most universities update their information each year, but it does occasionally happen that a university chooses not to review the information. We make sure, however, that if a university skips an update cycle, the information gets updated the next cycle. In addition to our main update cycle, we do smaller updates throughout the year. If you want to let us know about new programs or corrections to existing records, just send us an e-mail at publications@aucc.ca.
How are programs classified by field of study?
Each program gets classified by AUCC staff on the basis of the
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). It was developed in 1980 by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the US. Statistics Canada worked with NCES on the 2000 edition of CIP and subsequently developed CIP Canada 2000, a Canadian version of this 6-digit classification. The CIP main areas of study are sorted alphabetically in the dropdown menu. Below the main headers (2-digit level), you will find the more narrowly defined field of study codes (6-digit level). Selecting a main header in your search will automatically return return all field of study codes in that group. E.g. selecting
Biological and Biomedical Sciences (26), will return all programs coded from 260101 (
Biology/Biological Sciences, General) to 269999 (Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other).
What is the best way to search for programs?
You can do searches using the dropdown menus, searches by keyword and searches that are a combination of those two. The dropdown menus are easy to use. If you want to select multiple options, simply hold down your Control (Windows) or Command (Mac) key while you click. It is good to note that in the field of study dropdown menu, you can search all fields within a group by selecting the main area of study code. Read the previous question for further details.
Since classification systems like CIP have inherent limitiations, a keyword search might sometimes be more useful. Semiotics, for example, does not exist within CIP and the easiest way to find programs in that area is through a word search, which is a full-text search of the program names. You can search on parts of words (e.g. semio, semi) or whole words (e.g. semiotics). Phrases are possible too, but since the database searches for an exact match to your search string, it will not pick up phrases that are only slightly different.
The word search function is very basic and is not equipped to do Boolean searches. You can use the word search in combination with the dropdown menus. In our semiotics example above, selecting Quebec in the province dropdown, would limit the search results to Quebec universities.
How many program records can I retrieve?
The previous edition of this database allowed a maximum of 100 records. It currently returns a maximum of 500 records. If that is still not sufficient, we suggest you split your search. E.g. instead of all of Canada, you can search by province or by degree level.
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