Peer Institutions

The Office of Institutional Research maintains a list of Institutions and selected data for the purpose of benchmarking.

Why Benchmark?

Simply stated, benchmarking is one of the most powerful tools for initiating and sustaining continuous improvement. Benchmarking over time identifies the results of interventions in an iterative process fostering continuous improvement.

As a Land-Grant Institution, our peers consist of the Institutions that were created out of the Original Morrill Act of 1862. Currently the Office of Institutional Research is using AGB Benchmarking Service for data in many student and faculty comparative areas. This service is a large compilation of IPEDS data. As a source of comparative data in the areas of private giving and endowments, the Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) is used.

The following highlights the areas currently measured:

Enrollment

Faculty Numbers and Average Salaries

Student – Faculty Ratios

Standardized Test Percentiles

Percent in Top 10% of High Schools Class

National Merit / Achievement Awards

Freshmen to Sophomore Retention Rates

Six-Year Graduation Rates

Doctoral Degrees Awarded

Research Expenditures

Instructional Expenditures per FTE Student

Academic Support Expenditures per FTE Student

Private Support

Institutional Expenditures

Endowment Market Values

In addition to the benchmarking with the Land-Grant Institutions, other comparative studies are conducted by Institutional Research to include Faculty Salary Averages by Rank and Discipline, and Administrative Salary Averages using the Southern University Group (SUG) Institutions. For decision-making in specific needs, the office actively participates in a listserv that is supported by the SUG institutions which gives almost immediate comparisons between the thirty-two schools.