Measurement systems give colleges a structure for collecting, sharing, and acting on data. The guidebook and tools presented here help faculty, staff, college leadership, and policymakers understand and use measurement systems--and specifically use data to improve completion rates, close institutional performance gaps, and facilitate economic…

This article describes the step-by-step process of how data science, marketing and communications, and higher education improved access and success for students. Over the last three years, strategic planning efforts helped develop a data-informed culture on campus. The work described within the playbook required time, energy, and a lot of…

Each year hundreds of institutions will administer national surveys to measure the engagement of their students. However, stakeholders on college campuses, such as educators (faculty, instructors, student affairs educators, and disability services administrators) and institutional research staff who work with this information are often unaware of…

Although faculty are an important part of collecting, analyzing, and using student learning data for improvement, significant barriers often prevent faculty from being involved in assessment work outside the classroom. One potential obstacle to faculty involvement in assessment is the misalignment between the work and faculty rewards structures.…

This article describes a project undertaken as part of a cross-campus strategic planning effort. The project documented current campus practices and systems in use for collecting, analyzing and reporting key research metrics. The project identified organizational issues around siloed data collection and lack of clarity on data stewards, data…

As Canadian post-secondary institutions emerge from the pandemic restrictions, they are in a historically unique position to assess how online education has both facilitated and hindered learning, and how the effects might be greater for some. In this study, open-ended comments from the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association 2022 Spring…

In higher education, the discursive establishment of 'faculty' vs. 'administrator' creates a dualistic, hierarchical structure, informing relationalities between/within ourselves and faculty. As administrators, we found/find ourselves in relational encounters, entanglements of material-discursive bodies, that we were/are a part of producing. In…

Through this paper, we explore "unbundling," the separation of various aspects of education, resources, teaching and assessment (Ossiannilsson et al., 2015) and "rebundling," where these activities are "recombined into new configurations with little loss of functionality" (Ge et al., 2004, p. 1). We chart the…

It is important for policymakers and managers of higher education institutions knowing how well their universities are operating. This article aimed to show that data envelopment analysis (DEA) can be an excellent benchmarking instrument in higher education. First, by using several inputs and outputs at the institutional level, DEA can identify…

Purpose: The emergence of social media has provided an alternative mechanism for students to provide and access online reviews about universities. These forms of feedback are often not systematically monitored and interpreted by universities. The purpose of this paper is to analyse quantitative ratings and qualitative comments provided by students…

Bay Path University in Massachusetts developed a COVID dashboard and related safety practices enabled by data (Anderson, 2020) during the pandemic. The dashboard has capabilities, in which information technology staff partnered with executive management, human resources staff, health offices, and others to identify key performance indicators…

This multiple case-based study investigates the relationship between recruiting agents and the UK universities who act as their principals. The current extensive use of agents in UK higher education may be seen as an indicator of the financial impact made by international students. The study analyses the practice of agent management and explores…

Universities generate a mass of data related to students and the courses that they study. As such, "data work" using digital technologies and digital systems is integral to educational administration within higher education. Drawing on in-depth interviews with administrative and managerial staff in an Australian university, this article…

Committees are ubiquitous throughout institutions of higher education. Identifying conduct that is conducive to committee work is a precursor to exploring why some individuals engage in committees and others do not. Using qualitative methods, this study explores organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) exhibited and observed by university…

Postgraduate education is poised for rapid development and if Deans and administrators will embrace lessons from industry it can actually be a smooth transition. The cost of doing nothing is greater than it has ever been before. Hit and miss development has left Postgraduate Schools (PGS) with disjointed student analytics and student experience is…