Declining confidence in the academy, combined with increasing scrutiny of higher education by funding agencies, legislators, and the public, is driving academic leaders to better demonstrate the extent to which their colleges and universities are meeting goals. Benchmarking, a tool that has been used for years in industry, is one approach higher education leaders can use to measure the extent to which institutional objectives are being met.

This volume provides different perspective on the application of benchmarking in higher education. The authors present conceptual overviews and organizational examples of how benchmarking can be used in colleges and universities. Our expectation is that the reader will develop an appreciation of benchmarking as an administrative tool, including a greater awareness of its strengths and limitations. Administrators or faculty members in higher education will be able to develop their own strategies for using benchmarking in their practice.

This is the 118th issue of the Jossey-Bass series New Directions for Higher Education.