Institutional Intelligence


Book Description

We tend to view institutions cynically, but they are essential to human flourishing and thriving communities. Focusing on the non-profit sector, Gordon Smith unpacks the core of institutional intelligence, showing team leaders, directors, executives, board members, and employees how to work effectively within the institutional character of their organizations.




Starting and Sustaining Meaningful Institutional Research at Small Colleges and Universities


Book Description

The focus of this volume is on the work of Institutional Researchers in a small college or university (SCUs) setting. At an SCU, the goal of the IR office is to balance the bureaucratic tendencies of data-driven decision making with the need for collegiality and collaboration. Drawing on numerous examples, it illustrates how IR professionals can leverage their positionality within the institution to design data flows to answer questions by serving as convergent thinkers, connecting disjointed systems and requests. This volume: identifies the challenges that small IR offices face reinforces the idea of collegiality as a defining feature of small IR offices discusses several principles for using data about teaching and learning explores the effects of low response rates in survey data and the effects of nonresponse bias demonstrates the importance of collaborative efforts in enacting change proposes a model of policy development focused on student success presents an effective model of SCU IR office development This is the 173rd volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.




Institutional Research and Planning in Higher Education


Book Description

Globalization, demographic shifts, increase in student enrollments, rapid technological transformation, and market-driven environments are altering the way higher education operates today. Institutional Research and Planning in Higher Education explores the impact of these changes on decision support and the nature of institutional research in higher education. Bringing together a diverse set of global contributors, this volume covers contemporary thinking on the practices of academic planning and its impact on key issues such as access, institutional accountability, quality assurance, educational policy priorities, and the development of higher education data systems.




Institutional Research in South African HigherÿEducationÿ


Book Description

The book provides a thorough overview of Institutional Research (IR) ? i.e. applied higher education research undertaken within universities ? in South Africa. It is a collection of essays focusing on the character and institutional setting of IR; how IR is embedded into the mechanisms of steering, shaping and reforming higher education; and what the major results were of IR in select thematic areas. The book is a valuable resource for higher education researchers and social researchers in South Africa interested in higher education. It ÿalso deserves to be read by practitioners and policymakers in the field of higher education in South Africa. It serves as an interesting case study for higher education researchers all over the world.




The Important Role of Institutional Data in the Development of Academic Programming in Higher Education


Book Description

Institutional data is one of the important aspects that informs the development and sustainability of academic programming within the academy. Centrality of institutional data is key when making decisions related to a range of academic programs. This volume addresses with both depth and breadth: various types of academic programing (i.e. academic degrees, research centers/institutes), diverse institutional types including community colleges, doctoral/research universities, minority-serving and for-profit institutions, and concrete examples and steps regarding how to utilize institutional data to improve academic planning and development. This is the 168th volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.




The Handbook of Institutional Research


Book Description

Institutional research is more relevant today than ever before as growing pressures for improved student learning and increased institutional accountability motivate higher education to effectively use ever-expanding data and information resources. As the most current and comprehensive volume on the topic, the Handbook describes the fundamental knowledge, techniques, and strategies that define institutional research. The book contains an overview of the profession and its history, examines how institutional research supports executive and academic leadership and governance, and discusses the varied ways data from federal, state, and campus sources are used by research professionals. With contributions from leading experts in the field, this important resource reviews the analytic tools, techniques, and methodologies used by institutional researchers in their professional practice and covers a wide range of topics such as: conducting institutional research; statistical applications; comparative analyses; quality control systems; measuring student, faculty, and staff opinions; and management activities designed to improve organizational effectiveness.




Cases on Institutional Research Systems


Book Description

Institutional research (IR) is a growing, applied, and interdisciplinary area that attracts people from a variety of fields, including computer programmers, statisticians, and administrators and faculty from every discipline to work in archiving, analyzing, and reporting on all aspects of higher education information systems. Cases on Institutional Research Systems is a reference book for institutional research, appealing to novice and expert IR professionals and the administrators and policymakers that rely on their data. By presenting a variety of institutional perspectives, the book depicts the challenges and solutions to those in higher education administration, and state, federal, and even international accreditation.




Building Capacity in Institutional Research and Decision Support in Higher Education


Book Description

This book examines the relevant roles, skills and knowledge needed to build the institutional research capacity across the higher education sector globally. The information contained herein will inform IR practitioners, senior level institution officials, and higher education scholars. With a focus on building the capacity of the IR profession, this book’s primary audiences include senior leaders who wish to introduce or strengthen their understanding for effective decision support and staff members who are currently in decision support units and those who wish to serve in this capacity. However, this book also offers detail on the decision support function to higher education scholars who seek to better address how data can inform policy and planning in higher education. Through a broad discussion about the roles and skills of the practitioners, this book will also enumerate the ways in which decision support practitioners can be valued contributors in shaping the future decisions and direction of specific institutions and higher education broadly.




Global Issues in Institutional Research


Book Description

All around the world, postsecondary institutions are facing competitive environments, declining resources, and changing societal needs. Institutions are affected by globalization, state and local government needs, economic restructuring, information technology, and student and staff mobility. Institutional researchers have a critical role to play in addressing these issues. In this volume, we have embedded the practice of IR as experienced globally. We brought together a discussion that is delivered from multiple perspectives, but fundamentally one that draws from the collaborative efforts of practitioners across borders. By embedding notions of globalization that affect IR, we can engage readers in broad discussions on where we are coming from and where we are heading. This is the 157th volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.




The Institutional Basis of Higher Education Research


Book Description

In the US, the university administration runs its own office of “insti- tional research” in order to base its decisions on systematic information. Furthermore, higher education research can rely on a relatively stable academic basis if study programmes on higher education exist. Again, this is most frequently the case in the United States. Finally, governments and other macro-societal actors sometimes have their own offices or institutes of policy research and prepare the policies of the actors they report to. In addition, research on higher education can be institutionalized in a - riety of ways. Often, research institutes on higher education are quite visible. They were established as specialized research units within or outside insti- tions of higher education; but no common institutional basis can be observed for this type of institution across the countries. Third, the major themes of research on higher education also differ - tween countries. It has frequently been said that in European countries it was more prone to analyse macro-societal issues of higher education, whereas in the US it tended to study the inner life of higher education institutions, s- dents, and the teaching and learning processes.