From the President

We might give stammering, perhaps even humorous responses to that question.  We often talk about data, numbers, and supporting the institution with planning and decision making, which is often met with a neutral response and the conversation moves on. Sometimes I avoid referring to my actual role when talking outside of our environment, and instead occasionally just say, ‘I work at Otago Polytechnic’. This generally elicits a response of, ‘oh nice, what do you teach’, at which point I go back to square one and talk about data and numbers, because people tend to look blankly at me when I talk about institutional data. It is at about this stage that the face of the enquirer becomes lifeless, and I realise they are not passionate about data like I am.

While IR is now more than 40 years old, I like Cameron Fincher’s 1978 definition of IR as ‘organisational intelligence’. As institutional research (IR) professionals, we have a proud and strong tradition that we all have a responsibility to own.

We all have different foci for the work we do—institutional research, analysis, information, reporting, evaluation, effectiveness and performance. We are also placed in many different parts of an institution—strategic planning, enrolment management, information technology, finance, human resources.