This chapter utilizes the duties and functions of institutional research to outline the skills needed by institutional research professionals in an evolving digital institution. The concept of future‐proofing, explained and considered in this context, encourages professionals to develop skills for the present with the future needs of data‐informed decision‐making in higher education in mind.
Information Technology (IT) and Institutional Research (IR) units working together with planning, a focus on collaboration, and a willingness to create partnerships can help accelerate their institution's efforts to improve the data landscape. This chapter includes an overview of the challenges facing these two functional areas, the benefits of a new way of operating together, and the steps leaders from both IR and IT can take to work together to build new relationships across units and their staff. This work derives from a focus on values, beliefs, and actions. Taken together, these strategies, if implemented with care, can establish a solid foundation to support the need to expand, improve, and mature IR's role in the data landscape.
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