Viena_finalBenchmarking Conference - Facing the rankings: Using benchmarking tools for strategic positioning, Vienna, Austria (20-21 January 2011). A leading conference with practical workshops and plenty of networking opportunities.
With the increasing rise of rankings of all kinds, universities are under serious threat of loosing students, loosing attractiveness for the best researchers and of loosing core and competitive funding. When unprepared to anticipate the possible outcomes and to respond adequately by improving their performance, higher education institutions are running the risk of their reputation being damaged in already difficult situations experienced in the context of the economic crisis.
Benchmarking is a modern management tool which helps to address the challenges of the rankings, through a better understanding of institutional profiles and needs, with a view to set targets for improvement and to improve strategic positioning.
The conference will look at transparency tools such as classifications, rankings and benchmarking exercises in an increasingly diverse higher education context. Drawing on the handbook produced in the framework of the two-year EU-funded EBI-II project Benchmarking in Higher Education, the conference will offer practical peer learning sessions (on benchmarking tools) and specialised workshops (to assist both in the selection of appropriate indicators in the three areas of internationalization, university-enterprise cooperation and regional innovation and in discussing the strength of these indicators). The handbook offers a very detailed methodology on defining and selecting indicators with the use of balance scorecards as well as designing powerful action plans to implement changes as a result of benchmarking exercises. To attend the conference, register here. Download the preliminary programme.