The level of awareness, knowledge, and current practices regarding strategic marketing within institutional research (IR) offices were studied for colleges in the Rocky Mountain region. Of the 18 responding offices, 9 indicated that their institutions utilized a marketing approach to planning. Of these 9 offices, 56 percent reported formal…

In the interest of understanding the role of Chief Planning Officers (CPO) in gaining broad support for planning within an institution of higher education, this paper used a national survey of administrators to examine that role. This study, conducted by the National Center for Postsecondary Governance and Finance, involved a survey of 3,333…

Characteristics of a decision support system (DSS) and factors that influence system design are described, along with a decision support database at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Reasons that the institutional research office is in a unique position to support decision-making are identified. A review of the literature of DSS briefly covers…

In the midst of insistent demands for accountability, self-analysis by all educational institutions has become an urgent necessity. Long-range, comprehensive planning is an essential prerequisite for coping effectively with the rapid changes taking place in education, and institutional research is an essential element in such planning. For an…

The way that graphs can be used to make calculations that are commonly used by institutional researchers is described using specific examples, and the technique of constructing computational graphs (and nomographs) is outlined. It is shown that once a calculation involving several variables has been represented by a computation diagram or a…

The portfolio approach to evaluation can be a useful method of screening and comparing educational programs in terms of their productivity and potential. In the field of investments, portfolio analysis consists of identifying the relative strengths of assets in terms of the dimensions of return and potential for growth. College programs can be…

A national project in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) to facilitate and coordinate institutional research efforts and the research activities at individual universities is described. A proposal for a comprehensive research project on higher education in RSA is included. One project at the University of the Orange Free State (UOFS) is designed…

The Objective-Based Assessment, Planning, and Resource Allocation System (OAPRAS) that was developed and implemented at Middlesex County College is described. The integrated self-assessment planning and budgeting system was developed in 1981. The central purpose of OAPRAS was to link resource allocation decisions to the prioritized objectives that…

The wide variety of management approaches (zero-based budgeting, decision support systems, etc.) that have emerged in recent decades are reviewed. The questions of whether strategic management is simply another fad, and whether it can work in colleges and universities, are discussed. The development of strategic management is traced, both in…

The use of the institutional research function in higher education institutions in Australia is discussed. The importance of this function for active and long-range planning and information gathering is emphasized, and the organization of the information system--centralized or decentralized--is considered. (MSE)

This paper describes first year implementation efforts of Southwest Texas (SWT) State University to develop a system to integrate planning, budgeting, assessment, and quality to improve the delivery of education and other services to all the institution's customers. The document addresses the common situation when an organization already has…

A decision-focused paradigm is presented to guide the development of a comprehensive institutional plan. The primary emphasis is the identification of strategic decisions to be resolved by individual institutions and the key determinants of those decisions. Based on the paradigm, a more active role for institutional research is suggested in order…

A pilot survey of institutional research and planning (IR/P) functions at 78 U.S. colleges and universities yielded data on common and diverse tasks, products, and services; broad staffing and related operating expense requirements for these tasks, products, and services; and specific staff "person days" required to perform/achieve each…

An effective environmental scan will improve the quality of community college planning and decision making by alerting institutional leaders to the challenges and opportunities in the environment. Scanning can be done in three ways: (1) establishing a scanning committee to gather and synthesize information to guide planning; (2) sponsoring a…

Focus group research, which involves the exploration of a carefully selected research question by a group of homogeneous subjects, is a qualitative research tool which seems to be a quick and easy means of staying abreast of the educational needs and expectations of community colleges. However, it is difficult to moderate focus groups and…