The 2012 Benchmarking Programme

For the 2012 Programme, the following topics have been selected:
  
F234 Financial management
This will explore and compare the procedures and standards found within the financial management operations of each university, and will seek to identify any universally acceptable ‘best’ practice.  Issues such as accountability and financial reporting will be central to this topic.

Assessor:  Michael Gallagher.  Executive Director, Group of Eight Ltd. Australia. (Formerly, Director of Policy and Planning at the Australian National University.)

F235 Managing league tables and rankings
This is about managing a university in an environment in which it can be ranked by lay organisations with widely varying methodologies. Rankings can be international e.g. Shanghai Jiao Tong, Times HE, QS or national.  A discussion of the questions if and how institutions might respond to international rankings, and how might the institutional processes to operationalise these responses (e.g. institutional processes aimed at improving the institution’s rank) be improved."

Assessor:  Prof Ellen Hazelkorn. Vice President of Research and Enterprise, and Dean of the Graduate Research School, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Ireland

F236 Managing graduate outcomes
Graduate employability. The big issue right now is ‘student success’, i.e. retention, progression, time to completion, graduate destination (employment), and graduate attributes.  These are essential KPIs that are of deep concern to most institutions. Managing student destination and employability is in fact a large management issue in itself and how it is managed at all stages in the student life cycle is extremely important. This topic will explore these issues and examine how universities might enhance their performance.

Assessor:  Prof John Brennan.  Emeritus Professor of Higher Education Research, The Open University Business School.

The Workshop/ Conference will be held in Bloemfontein, South Africa, hosted by the University of the Free State, running from the 27th  to the 29th  August, 2012.  If required, a second cohort event will be in October, 2012, at a venue yet to be identified. 

For more information, please contact Cliff Wragg, the Programme Manager: cliffwragg@fastmail.fm

What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking Methodology

1996-2012 Benchmarking Activities