The mission of the Office of Institutional Research is to provide objective, accurate and timely management information to improve planning and decision-making. Ideally this information will improve teaching and learning as well as services to students, resulting in a positive market position.

Institutional Research (IR) is a set of research activities carried out at colleges and universities. IR aims to collect, analyze and report data on students, faculty, and staff; educational activities, programs and facilities; and administrative and support services to provide accurate information for planning and decision making.

This office reports to the provost and conducts research for academic divisions and programs, student services, finance, marketing, recruitment and other college offices. Additionally, the IR Office reports college data to external sources, such as the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) and federal government departments. Research projects are occasionally submitted for publication to contribute to the scholarly literature in the field.

What are the five broad IR functions at MATC?

• The Office of Institutional Research gathers, tracks, maintains and reports data on student enrollments - from recruitment, marketing and retention to program involvement, graduation and placement. This function embodies the "enrollment funnel process." IR also reports on specific program trends as part of a quality review process for making continuous improvements.

• The Office of Institutional Research maintains data related to the financial status of the institution by working with the college's Finance Office and the WTCS Office. It aids the determination and allocation of funds for institutional functions and resources, including instructional development and faculty and staff salaries. It interfaces with the Grants Office and Office of Corporate Learning for similar reasons.

• IR produces analyses of college, program and service functions, systems and processes for internal clients, as a way to guide decision-making. These include satisfaction studies and environmental scans of the college as well as a wide range of enrollment trends and analyses measuring student success (e.g., course completion, GPA, academic standing, college transition, and transfers) and evaluation of specific programs and services. It shares findings with top management, divisions, departments and planning committees at the institution.

• Accreditation is a significant issue for all educational institutions and IR plays a central role in preparing data for assessing continuous organizational improvements and for making college submissions to accrediting bodies. The Office also is a contact point for reports and surveys requested from governmental and non-governmental agencies, including the United States Department of Education and the Higher Learning Commission.

• All educational institutions need common guidelines, procedures and measures for strategic planning purposes. To facilitate this important requirement, IR develops standardized data definitions, calculations and data sets that help the institution employ meaningful measures that aid organizational evaluation.

Facts and Figures

PDFs:
Student Demographic Trends
Enrollment Trends
Student Success Trends
Student Retention Trends
Student Persistence Trends

Websites:
WTCS - http://www.wtcsystem.edu
IPEDS Data Center - http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter

Institutional Research Staff

Institutional Review Board

For more information, visit Institutional Review Board.