The state of higher education today is one of change and stasis. Economic vulnerability, globalization, technological innovation, and an increasingly competitive market underlie the need for change in higher education. At the same time, there are strong and stubborn forces at work supporting the status quo. Though daunting, institutions of higher…

In this age of accountability, transparency, and accreditation, colleges and universities increasingly conduct comparative analyses and engage in benchmarking activities. Meant to inform institutional planning and decision making, comparative analyses and benchmarking are employed to let stakeholders know how an institution stacks up against its…

This report evaluates the extent to which Scotland's colleges have developed and embedded a culture of promoting equality and diversity effectively for all learners and staff. It considers how effectively colleges have mainstreamed equality and diversity in all aspects of their operations. The fieldwork for this report has been informed by…

Demands from state level agencies for greater accountability, less academic program duplication, and greater cost containment have pushed U.S. colleges toward greater seriousness, and more competence, in planning. A prominent factor in greater effectiveness in planning models is integrally relating planning, management, and evaluation. (MLW)

The report summarizes the preliminary findings from the Institutional Self-Study Follow-Up Survey of the faculty, administrators, staff, and students at South Texas Community College (STCC). The follow-up study was intended to address areas that were found to be of sufficient concern in the committee reports of the original Self-Study Survey as to…

Most assessment efforts suffer from being externally imposed on reluctant institutions. Factors that appear to influence the effectiveness of the various kinds of assessment attempts, their purpose and design, and their relationship to the ongoing health and prospects for institutions are discussed. (Author/MLW)

The nature and purpose of institutional research (IR), forms of research, and the function of IR in the organizational structures of colleges and universities are examined. Institutional research is defined as research conducted within a higher education institution to provide information that supports institutional planning, policy formulation,…

Ways in which planning can be enhanced across organizational levels within higher education institutions are outlined, and examples of institutional planning are analyzed from centralized/decentralized perspectives. Generalizations about planning are drawn with particular attention to ways in which effective human planning behavior can be…

Developed as part of the Mission, Role, and Scope Procedures projects, conducted from 1977 through 1979 by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), this book identifies topics to be covered in determining an institution's mission and how such a determination could be achieved through traditional, campus based, academic…

This paper examines the development and use of performance indicators in higher education, focusing on the experience of Queen's University (Ontario). It reviews factors influencing the development of performance indicators, such as the growing concern for accountability in public higher education and the university community's apparent inability…

The principles of ratio analysis can help measure use of financial resources to achieve college mission by quantifying status, sources, and use of resources and the institution's relative ability to repay current and future debt. Business officers and boards can use these measures to measure institutional performance; ratios can also help focus…

The evaluation of "institutional effectiveness" is required by many accrediting agencies and mandated by some state legislatures. It was hypothesized that the degree to which institutions have mobilized to meet these new accountability demands is related to the existence of a formal institutional research office. To test this hypothesis,…

Questions that institutional leaders can ask themselves about practices and goals are presented, including those dealing with the president's role, admissions director selection, recruiting strategy, marketing techniques, communication, evaluation methods, and retention. (LBH)

This 11th publication of Annual Meeting papers presents 68 written materials related to invited speakers' oral presentations. The materials address issues of self-study and institutional improvement by institutions of higher education. Chapter 1, "From Self-Study to Site Visit: Case Studies," shares the experiences of a community college…

A study was conducted to examine the application of quality standards developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO) to colleges in England and Wales. The British Standards Institution (BSI) has applied these standards to service industries, thus providing a framework for case studies in colleges. Six colleges in England and Wales…