The office of institutional research can play a key role in creating a college's marketing plan. Designing survey instruments and evaluations to support new program development, employer-based education, and recruiting concepts are areas where institutional research can make important contributions (Author/MLW)

In the past, almost all student follow-up studies have been cross institutional or very broad in nature. The target has consisted of populations of graduates, dropouts, or longitudinal entering classes. The output measures have centered around continued education of the population, job situation, mobility, reason for leaving, or a general…

During fall 1977 registration at William Rainey Harper College, a questionnaire was distributed to all registrants in an attempt to determine the extent of enrollment loss during registration periods due to scheduling problems and to identify steps which might be taken to prevent such losses in the future. Questionnaires were returned by 1,240…

This paper briefly reviews the learning outcome aspects of seven recent follow-up studies completed for seven different transfer discipline areas at William Rainey Harper College (Illinois). It notes an increasing interest by the field of institutional research in evaluating how students learn. Faculty in the fields of psychology, English,…

The components of a complete and effective marketing plan for higher education institutions are summarized. It is suggested that a marketing plan embrace all elements of the total marketing concept, and include curriculum evaluation, a retention program, and a scheme for evaluating the strategy's effectiveness. A bibliography is included.…

Market analysis for new program development in the community college occurs in four phases. (1) An overall manpower needs survey involving a canvas of all the employers and community organizations in the district. This phase is difficult because of the magnitude of the task, and the difficulty of forecasting changes in the market, especially in…

This study was designed to determine how to attract additional students to enroll during "Winterim," a two-week session which is scheduled between the regular fall and spring semesters at William Rainey Harper College. One hundred and seventy-five traditional credit and 94 continuing education students who attended Winterim in 1977…

A follow-up study of former architectural technology (ATE) students at Harper College was conducted to evaluate the program and to provide planning data. Students who had enrolled in three or more ATE courses between 1974 and spring 1977 provided a target population of 190 students to whom the survey instrument was mailed. After non-respondents…

In order to assess the effectiveness of the faculty development program for full-time instructors and the orientation program for part-time instructors at William Rainey Harper College, a questionnaire was mailed to all 67 lead teachers, coordinators, and academic administrators; 23 (34%) responded. Half of the respondents indicated that the…

The purpose of this study was to survey various constituent groups in the Harper College service area to determine their perceptions about Harper, college goal preferences, and other specific data to provide a general framework for long-range planning. Eight constituent groups consisting of the Board, faculty, students, staff, the community at…

In order to provide a fall 1976 student profile and to determine the college's market penetration, William Rainey Harper College drew a random sample of 400 traditional credit and 194 continuing education students, representing respectively 3.2% and 2.4% of the total student population. Traditional credit students averaged 27 years of age; 57.8%…

All 484 transfer-oriented students were surveyed one year after they completed at least 48 semester hours at Harper College; an 82% response rate was attained. Results showed that over 75% of the transfer alumni continued their education, but 20% of these were enrolled at Harper. Of those who left Harper, 73% transferred to another college or…

A follow-up survey on the employment of the 55 recent (1973-1976) graduates of the Operating Room Technician (ORT) program at William Rainey Harper College revealed that 51.2% of the 41 respondents had some college work prior to Harper enrollment; 63.5% were currently employed full-time, 14.5% part-time, 17% were voluntarily unemployed, and 5%…

A survey was conducted to determine the availability of internship opportunities for fashion design students at Harper College and to measure the value of Harper design graduates to their employers. A sample of 279 manufacturers, contacts, and retail stores employing fashion designers were identified in the Chicago metropolitan area and after two…

Surveys were conducted of community needs for three types of technicians--computer operators, diet technicians, cable TV technicians--and for a regional crime lab to serve the Chicago northwestern suburban police. The purpose of the surveys was to determine whether community needs would justify inclusion of training programs for such technicians…