A prActicAl guide Benchmarking in european Higher education

6. In Short
This handbook for benchmarking aims to be a guide into practical exercises
in benchmarking for higher education institutions. We distilled a number of
precepts from the experiences gained in the two-year project Benchmarking
in European Higher Education, which in abstract terms should be applicable
(with all necessary adaptations) to all higher education institutions embarking
on a benchmarking exercise. We focused on what seems to be the most
common and probably most fruitful type of benchmarking: collaborative
exercises among a number of higher education institutions aiming to make a
strategic difference to the partners involved.
We first reviewed the cognitive environment of benchmarking: its emergence
in relation to the quality movement in the business world, and how both quality
assurance and benchmarking migrated to higher education.
Then, we presented a number of steps - and considerations in following these
steps - that were derived from the project. Often, the derivation remained
implicit, sometimes because our precepts are lessons that were drawn from
far-from-perfect practices. After all, one learns most from others’ failures.
The steps in a benchmarking exercise are:
Initiating a benchmarking exercise in your institution
• Contextual background: Institutional profile and experience with benchmarking
• Purpose, goals and perspectives
• What to benchmark?
• Choosing the right benchmarking approach for your purpose
• Gaining commitment
• Selecting partners and forming a benchmarking group
Conducting a benchmarking exercise
• Resourcing and managing the benchmarking exercise
• Data gathering
- Choosing a methodology for the data collection exercise
- Collecting the data
• Reporting Results
86 A Practical Guide - Benchmarking in European Higher Education