Institutional Data Collection

All institutions represented in Institutional Profiles have supplied up-to-date facts and statistics about:

• the size of their research and academic staffs
• their levels of funding
• the number of undergraduate and graduate degrees awarded

Institutional data are provided and confirmed by each academic institution to ensure authenticity, and our first objective is to facilitate a smooth submission process that limits errors. We have provided university representatives a strong support structure and, where possible, pre-populated profiles with authoritative third-party data which institutions can confirm or revise.

Data Validation

Identification of logical data errors - we employ a number of algorithms to detect obvious errors in reporting or calculation.

Data comparisons - we compare newly submitted data to reliable third-party sources, most notably government agencies, to identify possible errors.

Data anomalies - reported data may be compared to expected values and searched for outliers. For example, if a university has a funding-per-faculty ratio that is far higher than the ratio for the university’s peer group, the data are flagged for follow-up.