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International Strategy for Higher Education Institutions

RSS FeedUK universities' international KPIs - PART 3

Posted on by Vicky Lewis

Good KPIs, traps and tips

This is the third in my series of blogs sharing insights and emerging ideas on ways to measure international success, based on a review of university international strategies. Links to earlier blogs in the series are provided at the end of this one.

Strategy trapsIn most UK university international strategies, there is some reference to how success will be measured. However, the level of detail and specificity varies hugely. The term Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is used liberally – and often quite loosely – alongside other terms such as ambitions, measures, metrics and indicators of success.

Before I share (in future blogs) my observations on typical – and more innovative – KPIs linked to different international engagement themes, I’ve decided to use this blog to outline the characteristics of a good KPI and to detail some traps to avoid and tips to bear in mind. 

What makes for a good KPI?

First, it’s important to be clear on the difference between KPIs and targets. As strategy expert Mike Baxter explains in his 2020 report on UK university strategies, KPIs are the ‘dimension upon which success can be measured’ (e.g. proportion of undergraduate students participating in an international experience; or international student satisfaction based on National Student Survey results). Targets are ‘values used as a threshold to define success’ (e.g. 25% of undergraduate students participating in an international experience; or 85% of international students satisfied with the quality of their course in National Student Survey). Sometimes specific targets are included alongside KPIs in strategy documents; often the targets are set out elsewhere.

Baxter observes that good KPIs must be Actionable, Measurable and Purposeful. In our context, purposeful KPIs are ones that demonstrate that a university is making progress towards one (or more) of its key international goals, as articulated in the international strategy. Depending on the duration of the strategy and the nature of the goal, it can be helpful to determine not only a target (the threshold level you aim to have reached by the end of the strategy period), but also the progress you need to make by milestone points on the journey. So you know what ‘keeping on track’ looks like.

KPI traps and tips

As a sector, I think we’ve got better at developing valid KPIs. However, there are plenty of traps that it’s easy to fall into (especially if KPIs are treated as an afterthought to the strategy itself). I’ve walked into some of these traps myself, which has helped me to tune into KPIs which may prove ineffective – or be hostages to fortune.

  1. 1. Don’t claim it’s a KPI when it’s not.

It’s perfectly acceptable not to include KPIs in the strategy itself (as long as there’s some alternative articulation of what success looks like). Often KPIs are set out in a separate (internal) document. However, if you have a section called KPIs in your strategy, make sure they are actually KPIs, rather than a vague or difficult-to-measure ambition.

  1. 2. Make sure there’s read-across between KPIs and objectives / actions.

Sometimes it seems as if KPIs have been selected in answer to the question ‘what can we measure?’, instead of considering ‘what will success look like for this objective, and what indicator(s) will tell us whether we’ve achieved it (or are on the right trajectory to achieve it)?’. If there are no action points in the strategy that would help to progress the chosen KPI, targets are unlikely to be achieved. One strategy I reviewed had a KPI of improved international Graduate Outcomes but no strategic actions that would support progress in this area.

  1. 3. Select KPIs that allow you to answer the most important questions clearly.

It’s worth considering up front how and to whom you’re going to report on progress. Which governance bodies are going take an interest in which indicators, and can you present progress clearly (e.g. via a dashboard)? There is a risk of steering committees focusing on the wrong thing if there are too many KPIs, or if progress against an indicator cannot be clearly articulated. Try to pre-empt this by thinking about whether your chosen indicators will allow you to provide authoritative answers to the questions that key stakeholders should be asking.

  1. 4. Hit the sweet spot between over-simplifying and over-complicating.

There’s a balance to be struck between keeping things simple by having a single KPI mapped onto each strategic theme, or going down the route of developing either a portfolio of KPIs or a composite KPI which better reflects the breadth and nuance of your aspirations but may be harder to interpret.

  1. 5. Understand where you are now and be realistic about progress tracking.

Do you have baseline data? If not, do you have a realistic plan for obtaining it? How labour-, time- or cost-intensive will it be to keep track of this KPI? Will the benefits outweigh the effort? Relatively onerous data collection can be worthwhile if it also provides you with insights to act on that you wouldn’t otherwise have (for example, a perceptions survey, benchmarking study or international reputation research – to be carried out at regular intervals or at least at the start and end of the planning period). But sometimes this is an unrealistic commitment and a more pragmatic approach is needed.

  1. 6. Ensure you express your KPIs in clear and specific terms.

When you agree your KPIs, make sure everyone understands the same thing and is crystal clear on what is in and out of scope. If one of your KPIs is increasing international student on-campus enrolments, are you going to measure total enrolments or new entrants? Will you include exchange and study abroad students, or just degree-seeking ones? Is your focus more on UG or PG level? The driver behind the relevant objective can help to determine what it’s most relevant to measure. It can be tempting to leave things slightly vague to allow for wriggle room – but that’s not helpful if you end up downstream in internal wrangles about what was intended.

  1. 7. Don’t rely on lagging indicators.

If most of your KPIs rely on HESA data (or on rankings based on HESA data), they don’t reflect where the institution has got to but, rather, where it was a couple of years earlier. They need to be supplemented by some leading indicators (i.e. data that provides early insights into likely future performance) or some ‘pulse indicators’ (i.e. snapshots of the current state of play). And don’t overlook the value of non-quantitative indicators: things like getting new policies agreed and adopted by a certain date.

  1. 8. When setting targets, beware unclear assumptions and unintended consequences.

It’s important to be really clear about your assumptions and the knock-on effect for the way you frame your KPIs. For example, I’ve seen targets like ‘increase the international student body to 30% of total enrolments’ without any contextual information about the planned size of the total student body by the end of the planning period. The international enrolment growth trajectory is therefore unclear and it would be entirely possible to meet the 30% target as a result of a decline in the number of students from other categories. An important question to ask is: is it in the control of the KPI owner (working with others) to achieve the target?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of tips. I hope some of them are helpful.

Future blogs in this series – thematic analysis of KPIs

Forthcoming blogs in this series will provide a thematic commentary on KPIs, exploring both current practice in international strategies and opportunities to innovate, one international engagement theme at a time.

We’ll be starting with TNE students, programmes and partnerships.

Links to earlier blogs in this series

Part 1 – What sits below the top of the iceberg?

Part 2 – Characteristics and key themes

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