Collaboration among institutions is deeply engrained in the culture of higher education, but little is known about how leaders of institutions engaged in inter-institutional collaborations gain understanding about the effectiveness of their collaborations. Most research about higher education collaboration focuses on either understanding why organizations collaborate with other organizations, or on understanding how organizations collaborate with one another. The unanswered and largely unasked question is how do we know whether inter-institutional collaborations in higher education are effective? This dissertation begins to answer this question by studying two consortia with distinctly different missions and foci, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania (AICUP) and the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA). The research explores how leaders of AICUP's and GLCA's member- institutions view the performance of these inter-institutional collaborations, how they determine whether these collaborations are effective and what they believe are the most significant factors influencing the effectiveness of AICUP and GLCA. The research also identifies clues about the lenses through which these leaders view collaboration which may aid in understanding how to develop structured approaches to determine effectiveness of inter-institutional collaborations. A key finding is that despite member-institution leaders' assertions that AICUP and GLCA are highly effective inter-institutional collaborations, these leaders could not identify metrics or methodologies to support their assertions. Research identifies many factors that subjects believe foster effectiveness of AICUP and GLCA's collaborative efforts, and these "markers of effectiveness" provide insight to understanding the effectiveness of these consortia. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]