The community college environment is complex and dynamic, requiring constant monitoring. To ensure that workforce education, a core component of community colleges' missions, remains aligned with colleges' environments, responsive to employers' needs, suited to students' interests and abilities, and current in content and technology, it is…

Major categories of national higher education data are outlined and descriptions and sources are provided for over 50 databases. Categories include institutional descriptors, enrollments/completions, student demography, student longitudinal data, financial aid, institutional financial support, tuition/fees, faculty/staff salaries and benefits,…

Institutional research in higher education is seen as comprised of three levels of intelligence/information: (1) technical and analytical; (2) understanding of student, faculty, financial, and facilities issues; and (3) contextual intelligence concerning the culture of higher education and the particular institution. Knowledge and skills required…

Institutional researchers are often called on to compare financial performance across institutions as part of comprehensive institutional management teams. Several types and sources of national data, including databases and publications, are appropriate for this, each with particular strengths and limitations. Three sources also provide…

It is proposed that numerous national surveys of faculty since the late 1960s provide institutional researchers and others with rich sources of descriptive data to help address the shifting national issues and institutional concerns related to faculty resources. An annotated list of 12 major faculty surveys is appended. (MSE)

Two types of national data sets are described and used to analyze minority student equity in higher education: longitudinal survey data for tracking student persistence and cross-sectional data for monitoring the performance of institutions. Development of additional data sets of institutional characteristics that can provide true explanatory…

The National Science Foundation's Computer-Aided Science Policy and Research database system provides microcomputer-based access and manipulation of multiple national databases for federal and now institutional use. Applications at West Virginia University, Portland State University, and the State University of New York at Buffalo pilot tested the…

Selected data drawn from national sources are statistically refined to construct a microcomputer-based model for monitoring academic quality and simulating the effects of management decisions. The method, illustrated for doctoral institutions here, can be used for colleges at any level, across institutions, and over time. (MSE)

The University of Maryland System administration has been constructing a relational database that enables comparisons between the more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The data base contains information from nationally available sources, including the National Science Foundation, National Center for…

An extension and re-analysis of data obtained in a national study of knowledge production and utilization in schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDEs) brings together a picture of the current effort being made by SCDEs in dissemination and utilization (D&U). Ninety-two masters level and doctoral SCDEs were assessed with regard to…

The concepts of need and needs assessment are examined in the context of information needs for college administrators. A description is included of the conceptual framework underlying the Needs Assessment Information System (NAIS), which was developed by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Attention is directed to: (1)…

The office of institutional research at West Virginia University, an intergral part of the university's office of planning, annually produces a fact book called "Statistical Profiles of West Virginia University." The book is used as a source of information for planning, and contains information on six topics: the university's mission; programs;…

In response to rapidly escalating survey response requests from publishers of college guides and magazine rating features, institutional researchers at the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) developed a standard response form. In fact, the extensive research and level of detail that many surveys request require significant effort…

Students who reside off-campus at North Carolina State University were surveyed in 1973 to determine their attitudes toward university policies, programs, and services. Of the 372 randomly selected students, 153 responded. Information is presented about the following areas: participation in university services, participation in university student…

This study sought to determine which sources of information were most often used by the West Virginia public higher education governing board, and to assess the sources' usefulness in examining major higher education policy issues. Data were based on a mailed survey that asked members of the Board of Directors of the West Virginia state college…