Three areas of quality assessment in higher education are examined: students, faculty, and library resources. Types of student data that institutional researchers should address include: entrance tests scores, retention rate, student outcomes, location and recruitment of graduates, results of licensing examinations, scholarship recipients, and…

An historical account of the creation and development of the University of Iowa is presented. Organized by presidental administration, this institutional history concentrates on the period when the university established its place among the major U.S. universities, and follows the school's struggle to establish (through three distinct stages) a…

The evolution of the "planning process" from the 1940s to the present is considered, especially as it relates to higher education. It was hypothesized that institutional planning has experienced historical evolution: new planning innovations over the years have added to the existing institutional planning knowledge base. A literature…

The validity and reliability of the Institutional Performance Survey (IPS) as an institutional self-study instrument were assessed, with a focus on four types of validity (content, face, construct, and concurrent) and three types of reliability (test-retest, internal consistency, and rater reliability). It was found that IPS appears to reasonably…

Data about transfer students at the University of California, Berkeley, are reported, based on a spring 1985 telephone survey of transfer students at Berkeley and other student data, including enrollment trends, performance, and persistence. Particular attention is directed to community college (CC) transfer students. Survey responses revealed the…

Reasons that students enter or leave the University of Montana (UM) were studied in fall 1983. Consideration was given to first-term freshmen of traditional age, slightly older students (under age 25), transfer students, dropouts, and students who persisted at the university for 1 academic year. In study phase 1, attention was directed to…

The academic performance of intercollegiate athletes at the University of California (UC), Davis, was studied, using graduation rates and grade point average (GPA) as performance measures. Comparisons of academic performance of athletes and other UC Davis undergraduates were also made. Of 1,042 male athletes during 1970-1979, 63 percent were…

Changes in higher education that affect teaching and research are addressed in the proceedings of the 1982 forum of the European Association for Institutional Research. In addition to six invited papers on adaptation or guidance of universities, papers on faculty, resources and cost indicators, research facilities and equipment, and institutional…

The role of institutional self-evaluation is considered in the context of transition from central regulation to self-regulation in various higher education systems in Europe. A distinction is made between external steering, where regulations and decisions are made by a central state authority, to self-steering, where decisions and regulations are…

The "Guided Studies" program at a comprehensive community college was evaluated. The program was designed to restrict student course enrollment until academic deficiencies could be erased through successful completion of courses in developmental education. The persistence rates and academic performance of students placed in the program…

Retention at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, was studied, based on the entire population of 29,372 undergraduate degree-seeking students enrolled in a semester between fall 1981 and 1987. Two measures of the retention rate are used: cohort survival, the percentage of the original cohort of entering students that is enrolled in or has…

In response to the increasing importance of student performance in required classes, research was conducted to compare two prediction procedures, linear modeling using multiple regression and nonlinear modeling using AID3. Performance in the first college math course (College Mathematics, Calculus, or Business Calculus Matrices) was the dependent…

In light of growing concern for the measurement of educational effectiveness, this paper advocates institutional research at the community college level in California's community colleges to answer crucial questions concerning students, programs, and communities and urges trustees and administrators to use research results to inform decision…

The use of a combination of traditional cognitive admissions criteria and noncognitive variables in predicting retention of college students is discussed. The focus is on improving prediction by analyzing various subgroups separately rather than using the entire population as a sample. The subjects were freshmen in the fall semester of 1978 at a…

The relationship of students' certainty about academic and career plans to student retention and persistence to graduation was investigated. The effect of race was also considered. In fall 1979 a survey was administered to 3,277 freshmen entering a major, public, research university. Respondents indicated reasons for choosing a college, their…