Benchmarking ONE: What
is Benchmarking and Why do we benchmark?
taken from FOCUS pdf document (which is excellent) (page 28
to 34)
3.1
What is Benchmarking?
Benchmarking with the focus of improvement strategy and
quality assurance tool is commonly used, but with different approaches
throughout the world. It can be defined as an «ongoing, systematic process for
measuring and comparing the work processes of one organization to those of
other organisations, bringing an external focus to internal activities,
functions or operations». Two widely known definitions of Benchmarking are:
«Benchmarking is simply about making comparisons with other organisations and
then learning the lessons that those comparisons throw up». (European
Benchmarking Code of Conduct) «Benchmarking is the continuous process of
measuring products, services and practices against the toughest competitors or
those companies recognised as industry leaders
ENQA, Benchmarking in higher public institutions
(Benchmarking in the Improvement of Higher Education, ENQA Workshop Reports 2)
Kempner (1993); The Pilot Years: The Growth of the NACUBO
Benchmarking Project 3. Benchmarking TEMPUS European Commission 30 (best in
class)». (The Xerox Corporation – Pioneers of the benchmarking process)
Private and public organisations use this technique for the
improvement of administrative processes and institutional models by examining
processes and models in other institutions and adapting their techniques and
approaches. One major advantage of Benchmarking is that the tool is rather
simple in its application and execution. Essentially Benchmarking is about
raising basic questions and attempting to find the answers.
·
How well are we doing compared to others?
·
How good do we want to be? What are our
objectives?
·
Who is doing it the best?
·
How do they do it?
·
How can we adapt what they do to our
institution?
·
How can we become better than the best?
Finding the answers to these basic questions, combined with
a structured approach, and applying a proper methodology has proven to lead to
valuable results.
3.2.
Why Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions?
The European Convergence and the internationalization of
Higher Education, increasing competition and increasing demand requires Higher
Education Institutions to implement strategies to maximize quality of their
offer (study programmes and services) to be competitive. Here a key role is
played by the Quality assurance of study programmes and services offered by
HEIs. Among several improvement strategies and techniques such as Total Quality
Management (TQM) or Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Benchmarking has
emerged as a useful, easily 31 understood, and effective tool for ensuring and
improving competitiveness.6 Institutions experienced in benchmarking describe
it as modern management tool and the most effective quality enhancement method
leading to growing efficiency and great improvements within the institution.
Practical reasons for the success of the method are considered to be that
building on the work of others makes sense; that it can lead to cooperation;
and that the method is simple and concrete.
The main opportunities presented by benchmarking in HEIs
are:
·
Identifying gaps in performance between the
institutions and others;
·
Identifying opportunities & threats for
future expansion or improvement or the potential to be ‘left behind´;
·
Identifying strengths & weaknesses: strong
points or great defects can be identified after being allowed to study the
processes of others;
·
Obtaining objective assessment – ‘critical eye’
to be able to objectively study the current performance without paradigm
blindness;
·
Justifying current methods, resources and
practices (and vice-versa); we may find we are actually operating at a very
satisfactory level;
Alstete, J. W. (1995), ‘Benchmarking in Higher Education:
Adapting Best Practices To Improve Quality’
ENQA, ‘Benchmarking in higher public institutions’
(Benchmarking in the Improvement of Higher Education, ENQA Workshop Reports 2),
www.enqa.eu TEMPUS European Commission
Comparing with competitors or organisations with similar
functions or processes; processes can be compared among different types of
institutions and also between public and private organisations (for example:
human resource management).
3.3.
Advantages and concerns of Benchmarking for HEIs
Benchmarking is especially suited for HEIs, because of its
reliance on hard data and research methodology, as these types of studies are
very familiar to faculty members and administrators. Practitioners’ experiences
lay down that Benchmarking at HEIs helps overcome resistance to change by
providing specific, real-life examples of success, provides a structure for
external evaluation, creates new networks of communication and facilitates
sharing valuable information and experiences. Besides substantial evidence of
the positive effects of benchmarking, there are arguments used to criticize the
method. Such concerns include for example that it is a euphemism for copying,
lacking innovation, only has a marginal capacity to improve existing processes
and exposes institutional weaknesses. However, evidence clearly shows that
Benchmarking can lead to radical changes of processes and innovation, by
«adapting» instead of «adopting» best practices. Furthermore, by following 33
the Benchmarking Code of Conduct, confidentiality concerns can be reduced.
3.4.
More information on Quality Assurance institutions and initiatives
The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education http://www.obhe.ac.uk
The Observatory undertakes a wide range of research and
consulting activities to help subscribing institutions to gain better
understanding of current trends and emerging good practice.
EFQM – European Foundation on Quality Management
http://www.efqm.org/Default.aspx?tabid=100 Studies and other sources of
information for registered members, possibility of participating in
Benchmarking Groups: An EFQM Benchmarking Group consists of a variety of
organisations from diverse backgrounds that have an interest in learning and
sharing on a specific topic in order to improve their overall performance.
European Benchmarking Code of Conduct
http://www.efqm.org/en/PdfResources/Benchmarking%20
Code%20of%20Conduct%202009.pdf
The Benchmarking Code of Conduct sets out the ethical and
regulatory considerations of undertaking benchmarking, especially in terms of
industrial espionage and other unfair competition measures. 9. Alstete, J.W.
(1995), ‘Benchmarking in Higher Education: Adapting Best Practices To Improve
Quality’ TEMPUS European Commission 34 The Benchmarking Code of Conduct sets
out the ethical and regulatory considerations of undertaking Benchmarking,
especially in terms of industrial espionage and other unfair competition
measures. Consortium for Higher Education Benchmarking Analysis™ http://www.cheba.com/
CHEBA provides a forum for the exchange of performance measurements and
benchmarking data for all levels of higher education around the world. The
association is currently a free organisation with fees assessed only when
members want to join specific benchmarking efforts. Membership is limited to
individuals employed as regular employees of public or private institutions of
higher education.
FOCUS Quality document –
BRILLIANT (page 28 to 34)
HOW do we compare against the
best of the best of the best in the world?
Strategies for benchmarking?
 |
FOCUS Benchmarking Tempus
Project 2013
|
 |
The Benchmarking Code of
Conduct
|
 |
Benchmarking in European
Higher Education - Report from a two-year project
|
 |
2006 European Benchmarking
Code of Conduct.
another online version of the International Benchmarking Code of Conduct
|
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