A prActicAl guide Benchmarking in european Higher education

A STEP BY STEP APPROACH
5.4 Conducting a benchmarking
exercise
Resourcing and managing the benchmarking exercise
Managing a benchmarking exercise – Some general advice
• Decide whether to use existing pre-standards/benchmarks as
starting point
• Develop an action plan for the data gathering, review it with higher
education institutions in the partnership
• Appoint the benchmarking team, staff and the moderating institution
• Carry out the data collection (internally and externally) – questionnaires,
site visits, peer reviews
• Develop an action plan with targets for improvement
• Implement the action plan and set new areas for benchmarking
To carry out a benchmarking exercise effectively, resources are needed, in
particular staffing to carry out the data collection, the analysis and the implementation
phase of the benchmarking results.
Decide on a clear action plan and task allocation (who processes the data,
who prepares the reports, etc.), a timetable with milestones, numbers of
meetings (internally and with partners). All these will determine the volume
of staff time needed and the budget. Successful planning is key for the executing
of the benchmarking exercise. Staff travel becomes an important item
in particular in transnational benchmarking exercises. Some staff training in
benchmarking concepts and practices might also be required. The overall
investment in the exercise will very much depend on the size and scale of the
benchmarking exercise.
68 A Practical Guide - Benchmarking in European Higher Education