Benchmarking at the University of Adelaide

What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is a means of comparing the University’s performance or standards, or both, with those of its peers. It is a means by which the University can monitor its relative performance, identify gaps, seek fresh approaches to bring about improvements, set goals, establish priorities for change and resource allocation, and follow through with change processes based on empirical evidence. It can be about broad University-wide issues or specific matters affecting only one area; it can be strategic (addressing priority issues) or cyclical (addressing a number of areas on a regular basis) or ad hoc (taking advantage of an opportunity). Benchmarking projects can be as simple as doing a desktop survey of relevant websites or may involve a formal request for information and/or an agreement with another institution.

Whatever its scope or subject matter, benchmarking is an important element of the University’s quality assurance cycle.

Essentially, benchmarking attempts to answer the following questions:

• How do the standards we have set ourselves compare to our peers?
• How does our performance measure against the outcomes of national and comparator institutions?
• How can we adapt good practice examples from other institutions to our own organisation?

Why Benchmark?

Benchmarking allows the University to:

• identify and monitor standards and performance in order to improve University outcomes, processes and practices
• discover new ideas for achieving the University’s ‘core objectives’ as outlined in its Strategic Plan
• provide an evidence-based framework for change and improvement.
• inform planning and goal setting
• improve decision-making through referencing comparative data
• bring an external focus to internal activities