Benchmarking

The online questionnaire had two benchmarking questions. The first asked respondents to indicate if their institution had benchmarked any activities, processes and/or resources related to the development of OLT grant applications since the beginning of 2012. The second question sought details of any benchmarking exercise. Only four out of 35 institutions (A6, A7, B2 and D4) answered in the affirmative to the first question. Of interest, two of the four are A-size (smaller) institutions, with A6 and A7 indicating that their benchmarking exercises included reference to information they had become aware of through the OLT Professional Excellence Networks (PENs). (Institution B7 also indicated this). The respondent from Institution A7 said that their benchmarking included success rates comparative to similar-sized institutions. The respondent from Institution D4 said that they had interrogated 'statistical information on grant and award outcomes' as part of their participation in an OLT project. The data from these four institutions did not provide a strong sense of the activities being comprehensive benchmarking projects with documented aims and outcomes along the lines of the Garlick and Pryor (2004) model of institutional improvement. Instead, they were more modest comparison exercises and follow-up activities, similar to limited versions of the McKinnon et al (2000) model of benchmarking.

References

• Garlick, S. & Pryor, G. (2004). Benchmarking the university: Learning about improvement. A report for the Department of Education, Science and Training.
• McKinnon, K. R., Walker, S. H. & Davis, D. (2000). Benchmarking: A manual for Australian universities. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.