RRC Polytech: Institutional Research

Institutional Research at RRC Polytech

Institutional research transforms data into knowledge through innovative and ethical analysis to improve and facilitate knowledge transfer, planning, evaluation and decision-making for Red River College and external organizations.

Mission

To provide research and data based planning leadership to position RRC Polytech for the achievement of its vision and mission by:

Managing the capture, access, analysis and sharing of institutional data.
Providing accurate, timely and objective internal and external business intelligence for decision support,
Leading the development of corporate strategy,
Ensuring accountability and compliance reporting,
Certifying data collection and analysis methods and being the central authority for institutional enrolment data and survey research data,
Promoting scholarship and ethical conduct in research, and
Administering ethics review and research integrity.

Objectives

Accountability and Compliance Reporting

To co-ordinate the accurate, timely and authoritative reporting of institutional statistics for external reporting requirements (primarily to COPSE, the CEI and Province of Manitoba Department of Advanced Education).
To introduce and maintain new College performance measurements systems that both measure and predict performance in order to leverage information to increase student success and improve reporting processes.
To develop new models for measuring accountability for internal and external clients in order to ensure advancing support for the College and to increase the accuracy of measurement techniques.

Institutional Research

To prepare reports related to student data for a variety of internal purposes.
To ensure the accuracy and reliability of all official reporting of student related data and to be the College’s official source of student related statistics.
To implement a variety of research studies to evaluate and improve a wide spectrum of College policies and practices, such as organizational health and effectiveness, institutional effectiveness in fostering student success, and administrative and support services.

Strategic Planning

To initiate and co-ordinate the review, development and measurement of the College’s Strategic Plan and Operational Plan.
To provide guidance and direction in strategic planning throughout the College.
To devise methods to integrate strategic thinking into all areas of the College.

Annual Reports

To co-ordinate the preparation of the College’s major Annual Reports (Academic Annual Report and Graduate Employment Report.)

Survey Research

To conduct routine and special surveys to collect information to assist decision-making and to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and services.
To provide College wide advice and guidance in the design, fielding and analysis of surveys.

Special Research and Planning Projects

To design, co-ordinate, implement and prepare studies and reports on a variety of special research and planning projects related to pressing internal requirements, system-wide initiatives, external issue management, or other urgent matters.

Analytics

To develop, implement and maintain analytical and statistical systems to ensure the currency and accuracy of data used for planning and decision making.
To provide expertise on research and planning methodologies and design for the College.
To contribute to the scholarly growth of institutional research and planning.
To contribute to the enhancement of the research and planning profile of RRC Polytech.

Business Intelligence

To initiate, develop and implement systems to capture, document, forecast and transmit critical economic, social, technological and market trends affecting the College.
To initiate and conduct qualitative and quantitative studies of external policies and initiatives impacting the College.

Quality Improvement

To liaise with external quality organizations.
To foster quality assurance in data analysis, documentation and reporting in such areas as:
- Enrolment reporting
- Retention
- Graduate Satisfaction
- Graduate Employment
- Student Satisfaction
To undertake surveys and studies related to accreditations for programs.
To provide the data configuration component of the curriculum Face Validation Process.

Research Ethics

To manage the research involving human subjects review process.

Knowledge Management

To research, develop and implement a knowledge management system for the College in order to systematically leverage knowledge about students, programs, processes, technologies, competitors, etc, to transform RRC Polytech’s ability to amass and apply knowledge to improve performance.