About Us
The Office of University Planning, Institutional Research, and Accountability (UPIRA) was launched in 2005 as a university-wide office to improve accountability—such as compliance reporting and accreditation—and manage resources through strategic planning and research. UPIRA incorporates the University Reporting and Research (URR) team, which has been completing myriad federal and state compliance reports as well as producing official university reports on admissions, enrollment, retention, graduation rates, degree completions, and financial aid for all the campuses in the IU system since 1991. UPIRA is part of the portfolio of the Vice President for Planning and Policy, John S. Applegate.
Mission and Performance Objectives
Our mission is to develop a “culture of evidence” among Indiana University’s campuses in which we work together toward the articulation and attainment of performance objectives that are aligned with university goals and the individual mission of each campus.
UPIRA divides its efforts into three primary functional areas:
Planning and Policy Analysis
Indiana University is a complex university, with eight campuses that have multiple missions. As such, the planning activities that occur throughout the organization concern a wide range of domains. UPIRA supports planning through two performance objectives:
- Provide senior university leadership with substantial and sophisticated planning and research support for university planning and policy development.
- Facilitate the development of university-wide and campus-specific performance objectives with appropriate benchmarks and measures of progress.
Institutional Research Capacity Development and Direct Research Support
The overall effectiveness of university planning and institutional research depends on the capacities for all IU campuses to use institutional information, analysis, and inquiry effectively. Performance objectives for this area include:
- Conduct institutional research studies to inform the entire university community on pertinent issues that impact higher education institutional planning, management, and operation.
- Coordinate with IU campus institutional research staff and offices to promote the quality and consistency of work across campuses.
- Develop information resources to broaden access to and effective use of institutional data for university- and campus-level strategic and tactical decision making.
External Reporting and Accountability
We contribute to IU’s mission and image through three accountability performance objectives:
- Assist in developing university performance metrics as guided by the president of Indiana University, to be accountable to the IU Board of Trustees, the people of Indiana, and a wide range of other stakeholders, including alumni, business and industry partners, current and prospective students, and research partners.
- Ensure that the university represents itself to external constituents consistently and in a way that promotes the contributions of all segments of the university.
- Complete required federal statistical reports and required Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) reports and data submissions.
