Putting the 'A' in IR&A

When I first arrived on my campus nearly four years ago, the focus of Institutional Research and Analysis (IR&A) was directed primarily on survey administration and the development of historical reports. Over time, we have maintained these responsibilities and added many more. For example, several years ago we assumed enrollment reporting from the University Registrar. In addition, we have taken on the mandatory federal reporting responsibilities of both the Registrar and Human Resources. We were also tasked with the responsibility of improving the institutional Data Factbook which is in its third iteration and currently includes 74 pages, 98 charts, and 76 tables describing the admissions, enrollment, academic, and human resource patterns at the institution. In addition, we have developed additional reports to include the Academic Department Factbook, Human Resources Factbook, Tommie Almanac, Survey Factbook, and many others. The number of surveys administered by this office has increased with many legacy surveys converted from the more expensive paper version to a more efficient and cost effective electronic version. In addition to....

Institutional Research and Planning

The field of Institutional Research (IR) is a growing, and dare I say a thriving field in the arena of higher education. Much of this growth can be attributed to the continued emphasis on meaningful institutional planning. Of course, meaningful planning requires higher education institutions to make informed decisions based on accurate, timely, and useful information. As such, higher education organizations that make data entry, storage, and reporting systems a priority are in a much better position to negotiate the current economic climate when compared to those institutions that have not emphasized these principles. Simply stated, data informed institutions will not only survive the current recession, but they will most likely become stronger when compared to their less informed peers and competitors. In the end, much credit for success or failure during these economic times rests with the highest levels of the administration at each institution. Only with their leadership, foresight, and most importantly, their authority will the effectiveness of modern information systems be maximized. I emphasize this point as I have learned first-hand...