Talking Stick - September/October 2018 - 48

mance threshold for materials. A product is then measured in comparison
to a minimum threshold or standard.
Because higher education and housing departments feature a great deal
of variation, industry-wide standards
are not as common as in other fields,
but standards-based benchmarking
can be used when a goal is set and
performance is measured against the
goal. For instance, housing departments often have service standards
as a part of vendor contracts. The
standards are used to evaluate results
and determine if a partner is delivering an acceptable or outstanding level
of service. Similarly, a department may
set standards of activity for staff. In
a residential curriculum model, RAs
may be expected to have a specific
number of intentional conversations
with their residents, or, in more traditional programming models, student
staff may be required to produce a
certain number of programs. Either of
these are standards that can be used to
benchmark performance.
Standards can also be used within
a facilities maintenance context. A
campus housing department may set
a specific standard for the average
time it takes to complete a work order.
When the average time falls below the
standard, the department is alerted
and then can investigate what changes
may be needed. In other words, standards provide context and meaning for
results, and they can be used to drive
motivation and improvement when an
area is falling below a standard.
External benchmarking is the most
recognized form of benchmarking and
typically refers to using a comparison
group external to the institution. At
the institutional level, the most common comparison group is made up of
peers: institutions of similar scope and
size that serve similar students and
have similar resources. Sometimes a
specific characteristic will guide peer

TALKING STICK

group selection: a sports conference, or
geography, or urbanicity. Sometimes,
external comparison groups will also
include one or two aspirational institutions - that is, those that embody what

Sometimes,
an institution's
identity is
strongly linked
to being part of
a peer group, so
comparisons to
other schools in
the group are a
natural part of
discussions.

the institution is trying to become.
Housing departments can use the
institutional peers, particularly if the
housing departments and programs
at the other institutions are similar.
But choosing an external comparison
group specifically for housing is also
useful. A geography-based comparison
group may be useful when comparing
salaries, but departments with similar
educational models and staffing - regardless of their geographic location or
conference membership - may be useful for comparing learning outcomes.
Joshua Lawrie, director of residence
life at Bowling Green State University

in Ohio, explains how his department
benchmarks housing occupancy rates,
by semesters, externally with other
public institutions across the state.
"We do this to get a baseline for how
we are utilizing our resources to be as
streamlined as possible." While the
occupancy rate certainly will have a direct effect on the housing budget, the
benchmarking with other campuses
helps reveal if factors affecting their
successes or challenges are common
elsewhere.
While most comparison groups
focus on other higher education institutions, this need not always be the
case. For instance, using local competition and off-campus housing options
for benchmarking comparisons may
be appropriate when learning about
student housing choices, costs, and
contracts. Todd Porter, director of
residence life at The Juilliard School in
New York City, must always be aware
of student expenses. "I benchmarked
college and university housing costs
for students at all major institutions
in the New York City market," he
explains. "We wanted to do a market
comparison to ensure that our prices
were in line with what other urban
institutions were charging. We had
discovered in previous assessment
that cost was a major factor in the
reasons why students were moving
off campus." Ultimately, any of these
external comparisons can be used to
answer specific questions and address
strategic goals.
Internal benchmarking uses internal groups or departments as comparisons. A department uses internal
benchmarking when it compares
different residence areas, halls, or
floors. Housing and residence life departments often view operational data,
such as occupancy rates, by residence
halls or buildings. Other comparisons
- like survey response rates, number
of roommate conflicts, or number of

Talking Stick - September/October 2018

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