Each year the Education Advisory Board research staff conducts more than 10,000 in-depth interviews with officers and executives at leading universities and colleges. The purpose of each interview is to probe for innovative ideas, tactics, or strategies, and to seek some hard proof for their success or failure.

Looking Beyond Averages

The Education Advisory Board does not defend its research as a statistically valid sample of strategies and tactics. In fact, no attempt is made whatsoever to report on average practices. Rather, our staff is devoted to finding the leading universities, profiling the most innovative and successful institutions.

• Never a survey of "average" university development programs—rather, profiles of the programs raising the most funds nationwide.
• Never a survey of "typical" efforts at increasing student retention—rather, the handful of universities that are wildly exceeding expected graduation rates.
• Never “common” university strategies for seeding new research centers—rather, those that are leading to huge increases in federal grant awards

Do you have a best practice to share?

• Doing anything new to recruit minority faculty?
• Any evidence of success in your recent hiring?
• Any original ideas for reducing university energy costs?
• How much money has in fact already been saved?
• What is different in your first-year experience program?
• Any evidence that it is improving first-year student retention?