ABSTRACT

Performance data in higher education has gone through a major development in the last few decades. Simple input measures have given way to increasingly nuanced and dynamic output measures and performance indicators have become an integral part of management at the organisational and system level. The evolution of higher education performance measurement shows a reiterative relationship between data availability, its purpose in a governance system and its target audience. Digitalisation of learning, management and communication systems has revolutionised data availability, creating new possibilities for ‘big data’ use. Based on insights from the past evolution, current experiments with ‘big data’ and lessons from other sectors, the article explores what the new ‘big data’ era might mean for higher education governance. The high volume of data but also its speed of accumulation and related analytical techniques, are likely to substantially transform the current relationship between data and performance but also create some technical, ethical and policy challenges.

摘要

在过去的几十年中，高等教育的绩效数据经历了重大发展。简单的输入措施已经让位于越来越细微和动态的输出措施，绩效指标已成为组织和系统级别管理的一个组成部分。高等教育绩效衡量的演变显示了数据可用性、其在治理系统中的目的及其目标受众之间的反复关系。学习、管理和通信系统的数字化彻底改变了数据的可用性，为“大数据”的使用创造了新的可能性。本文基于对过去演变的见解、当前对“大数据”的实验以及其他部门的经验教训，探讨了新的“大数据”时代对高等教育治理可能意味着什么。