Most universities find working with the Education Advisory Board a different-in-kind experience. In a sector well served by consulting firms, professional associations, national and regional consortia, and conferences, the Education Advisory Board occupies a unique position. The difference from consultants—expert advice at much lower cost—is obvious. Those that separate us from professional associations, consortia, and learning collaboratives are perhaps less so, but arguably even more compelling.

Sharing Outside Narrow Peer Groups

By relying on associations of like institutions and other narrow peer groups for sharing practices and data, universities miss out on many of the best ideas. The Education Advisory Board searches for best practice across all universities nationwide, not just those we include as members. Our members benefit from the learning of thousands of universities nationwide.

Beyond Surveys and Benchmarks

Much of higher education research begins and ends with survey data and benchmarks, asking how well are we doing relative to peers? The Education Advisory Board is devoted to profiling actual practice—less focus on informing how well any one organization is doing relative to average practice, more on how they can achieve best performance.

Separating Wheat from Chaff

The higher education trade press and annual conferences are awash with ideas for improving performance. The sheer volume of ideas—and the often inherent bias of their authors—makes isolating truly best practices a difficult task. The Education Advisory Board provides a rigorous analysis of all ideas uncovered in the research, separating out the best from the merely commonplace, faddish, or bankrupt.

Supporting Member Implementation

Best research reports sitting on a shelf unused are of little value. In addition to providing detailed, in-depth descriptions of the best ideas in its reports, as well as roadmaps and advice for implementation, the Education Advisory Board backs up each report with educational onsites, webconferences, and unlimited access to its team of experts. Our ambition extends to helping each member implement the most relevant ideas.