As of year-end 2014, the Confucius Institutes--the largest international educational cooperation project in human history, and the largest internationalization project in the history of Chinese universities--celebrated their first decade of existence. This case study examines 27 Confucius Institutes in 15 countries spread across six continents…

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the conceptual, methodological, and statistical challenges in selecting appropriate peer institutions for comparative purposes. The authors' approach embraces a Western scientific tradition that physical things and phenomena can be "reduced into a set of key variables--identifiable parts--that make key…

Multilevel modeling (MLM), also referred to as hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) or mixed models, provides a powerful analytical framework through which to study colleges and universities and their impact on students. Due to the natural hierarchical structure of data obtained from students or faculty in colleges and universities, MLM offers many…

The sophisticated analytical techniques available to institutional researchers give them an array of procedures to estimate a causal effect using observational data. But as many quantitative researchers have discovered, access to a wider selection of statistical tools does not necessarily ensure construction of a better analytical model. Moreover,…

As a nation reliant on scientific and technological innovation for the health of our economy and national security, it is imperative that both educators and education policy create learning pathways that will successfully support current and future undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.…

A conceptual framework is proposed for describing and measuring assessment costs and linking these costs to their informational benefits. Direct resource components and incidental and opportunity costs of evaluation are discussed. (MLW)

Methods by which annual evaluation and review of departments at Michigan State has moved from a limited exercise to a valued administrative tool are described. A model is used that has as its basic unit the academic department and that is an operational system for departmental review and resource allocation in a complex university. (Editor/LBH)

In the context of decision support systems (DSS) use, four perspectives on evaluating decisions (consensual, political, empirical, and rational) and four models of organizational effectiveness (human relations, open system, internal process, and rational goal) are examined for their implications for DSS implementation and evaluation. (MSE)

West German use of performance indicators in higher education administration was studied in terms of differences between politically expressed intentions and actual application of the measures in institutional planning. Resource allocations was examined as one area of divergent developments. (MSE)

This study at Miami University (Ohio) compared multiple regression techniques, traditionally used in higher education to examine salary inequities, with compa-ratio analysis. This new technique has been a corporate practice for reviewing salary and gender bias and is now being applied in studies of higher education salary equity. Weaknesses of the…

The issues surrounding faculty reduction will require increasing sophistication in planning and budgeting. The institutional research professional must play a central role, including analysis of data on (1) instructional production by department, (2) faculty profiles, (3) cost variations by program and instructional level, and (4) financing of…

A process for selecting peer institutions for budget and program review of public postsecondary institutions is discussed. Data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), a national database, were used to select peer institutions. The first task was to identify the kinds of institution representatives to include as…

Two competing models of the relationship between college graduates' perceived learning and satisfaction with the college experience are examined, one representing a true effect and one treating the relationship as an artifact of the halo effect. It is recommended that researchers be cautious in interpreting self-reports of learning and…

Explores the appropriateness of team models and concepts to the academic side of higher education through a case study investigation of the collective functions and processes of a department of business administration in a large public university. Findings are compared to two conceptual models of teams: self-managing teams from industry and…

A two-dimensional model proposing three predictor dimensions (cognitive, noncognitive, and combined) and four criterion dimensions (grade point average (GPA), enrolled or not, graduate or not, and less traditional criteria) is presented. Preliminary results of a study using the model to examine both white and minority student predictors of…