This chapter describes how data analysis and data-driven decision making were critical for designing, developing, and assessing a new academic program. The authors--one, the program's founder; the other, an alumna--begin by highlighting some of the elements in the program's incubation and, subsequently, describe some of the components for data…

The system office for community college institutional research (SOCCIR) plays a role in the drama of higher education that states must orchestrate to help community college systems operate effectively and efficiently over the long term. But how exactly does the SOCCIR enable a state to accomplish what the separate institutional research (IR)…

It is a historically held principle of microeconomics that in the presence of better information, consumers make better decisions. This chapter focuses on information to guide consumers in making decisions about higher education. It examines the development and implementation of a one-stop career and college planning tool that leverages existing…

There is almost nothing more frustrating to an institutional researcher than seeing university leaders ignore data. The case study in this article examines how an institutional research office was able to put data to work in enrollment services and produce record-setting numbers of applications, admissions, and confirmations within a nine-month…

In today"s economy, public university administrators need to reflect on current practices for reporting and projecting space requirements to government entities as the cost of constructing new facilities or renovating space rises while income from legislative appropriations diminishes. As stewards of public buildings and funds, institutions…

This paper describes how various formal planning approaches were developed and applied at Pennsylvania State University. Phases (horizontal reduction, vertical reallocation, strategic planning, and strategic management) are identified as are principles including planning for change on the margins and continuity, providing for feedback, and…

A program focusing on recruitment of new freshmen at the University of Colorado at Boulder illustrates some major planning considerations in the development, implementation, and evaluation of a marketing plan. (MSE)

Review of literature concerning the use of program review in higher education lists sources discussing the review process, focusing on the links between program review and other institutional processes, and addressing application of program review principles and practices to different higher education settings. Critical factors for successful use…

Over the past decade, cross-functional quality improvement teams have been formed not only to reengineer work processes but also to enhance community and create incentives and recognition; they have moved the university from planning to action. (Contains 1 table.)

Oregon State University implemented Total Quality Management in nine phases: exploration; establishing a pilot study team; defining customer needs; adopting the breakthrough planning process; performing breakthrough planning in divisions; forming daily management teams; initiating cross-functional pilot projects; implementing cross-functional…

Presents a framework for creating competency-based models, including an analysis of the utility of national competency banks. Presents a checklist that institutional researchers can use during and after the implementation phase to guide institutional success. Concludes with a bibliography of selected Internet-based resources in the area of…

Performance funding for public colleges is attractive to state policymakers but volatile and difficult to implement. It requires levels of collaboration, cooperation, patience, and persistence unusual in state government and a commitment to institutional goals, performance standards, and coordinated activities rare in academic governance. However,…

Integrated planning promotes collaborative thinking and furnishes mechanisms for linking strategic plans with operational plans. (Contains 1 figure.)

Although selecting goals and indicators is the most challenging task of performance funding, implementation requires development of other critical elements: success criteria to measure institutional performance; indicator weights for percent of funding allocated to each indicator; an allocation method for setting the relationship between…

Some organizations are having difficulty with the Total Quality Management (TQM) approach. Problems appear to come from reliance on prepackaged TQM programs, large-scale, diffuse implementation, mass training programs, measurement paralysis, overemphasis on tools, process selection, outmoded reward structures, and simplistic views of change and…