Professional Support for University Management

Most of AIMS' work includes benchmarking in various forms, usually to identify good or best practice. AIMS has also produced a Good Practice Guide to benchmarking.

Simple benchmarking is the systematic comparison of performance indicators with historical data, data from other departments or data from other organisations.  One shortfall is that this takes no account of the quality or level of service provided, so the comparisons may be misleading.  Best Practice Benchmarking “compares products, services and processes with those in other organisations with the aim of learning and adapting best or better practice” (American Productivity and Quality Center). 

Best Practice Benchmarking can be carried out internally, comparing similar functions within the same organisation. It may compare similar functions in similar organisation, for example the staffing levels in similar sections of two or more UK universities.  It may compare functions in a similar organisation that operates in a different market (eg a foreign university), or in different types of organisation (eg the human resources functions in a university and a county council).

Many institutions have found the EFQM approach to be helpful, and a great deal of work on this topic has taken place at Sheffield Hallam University .

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