This question becomes especially urgent when the budget gets tight. There is a panoply of models. We need to understand what we are measuring, what works and how. A second issue is the extent to which research universities are being driven by new external emphases on assessment and accountability. In order to focus on a few urgent matters, Dr. Green asked participants to identify what they felt were the threats to the quality and reputations of research universities.
Assessment is paramount.
Research universities need to guide the assessment enterprise so that it is synergistic with and supports their goals. We need to use assessment to help us with respect to what we do with our students and to help alleviate public misunderstandings about research universities. Dr. Joan Secord Bennett of the University of Delaware described the complexities of carrying out a major assessment. To do a good study you need a large database and a large control group as well as highly experienced researchers. Dr. Matthew Santirocco, Dean of Arts and Sciences at NYU, noted that the AAU has set assessment as one of the goals of its Presidential Leadership forum, via a grant from the Pew Trusts.