Descriptive Summary

Finally, an analytical tool that allows you to benchmark teaching workloads, instructional costs and productivity, by academic discipline.

How do the teaching loads of tenured faculty in your academic programs compare with national benchmarks?
What proportion of undergraduate teaching at your institution is done by regular faculty, and how does that compare with other colleges and universities?
Does it cost more to deliver a student credit hour of instruction at your institution than it does at your peers?
How do externally funded research and service within your academic departments measure up against your competitors?

Answers to these questions can be found in a detailed data base, accessible through the National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity (Delaware Study). Participation in the Delaware Study affords you clear, concise analysis of data on teaching loads by faculty category, direct cost of instruction, and externally funded research and service productivity. The Delaware Study enables you to compare your institutional data with national benchmarks arrayed by Carnegie institution type and by highest degree offered and undergraduate/graduate program mix within a discipline. Moreover, you may select your own custom group of peer institutions against whom you'd like to benchmark your data. Consider the power of the information in the following charts, taken from an actual department in the Delaware Study:

The ability to assess departmental instructional costs and national disciplinary benchmarks allows for better-informed decisions with regard to resource allocation and utilization.

Who uses the Delaware Study?

Over 500 colleges and universities, including:

State University of New York System
University of North Carolina System
California State University System
University of Missouri System
Louisiana Board of Regents
Members of Association of American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE)
Members of Southern Universities Group (SUG) Data Exchange
Members of Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium

The Delaware Study is attractive because it is unique:

Comparisons are made at the academic discipline level of analysis.
Teaching workloads are analyzed by faculty type, i.e., tenured and tenure track; other permanent faculty; supplemental faculty; and graduate teaching assistants.
Participants can define their own peer groups.
The data definitions, methodology and data collection tools are regularly reviewed by representatives from participating institutions.
The Delaware Study is longitudinal, and enables you to track trend data over extended periods of time.
The measures enjoy widespread national acceptance and use.

Some 39 states currently have, or are contemplating legislation or regulations mandating faculty accountability reporting. If higher education does not develop credible reporting techniques, external bodies will intervene. The Delaware Study meets that need for a credible, national benchmarking tool.

To learn more about the Delaware Study, contact:

Michael F. Middaugh
Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research and Planning
University of Delaware
325 Hullihen Hall
Newark, DE 19716
Voice: (302) 831-2021
Fax: (302) 831-8530

Or e-mail him at:

Middaugh@UDel.Edu