Lead by Engaging Your University Community!

Demonstrating successful outcomes is a required competency for all higher education administrators, particularly those who lead information technology organizations. The task is difficult: how can one objectivelly assess the quality of technology services from the perspective of end users and not from the perspective of those inside the IT organization?  In the eyes of faculty, students, and staff, what are the key performance indicators that reflect high quality technology services at a college or university? The Higher Education TechQual+ Project provides IT leaders with the tools to assess, analyze, and report on the effectiveness of technology services at their institution, while shielding them from the burden and rigors of conducting survey research.

Learn More About the TechQual+ Approach

What is the TechQual+ Project?

Based on focus groups at participating institutions, the project has articulated a set of generalizable core commitments expected of IT organizations by faculty, students, and staff within higher education. The TechQual+ core survey contains 18 items designed to measure the performance of these three core commitments: Connectivity and Access, Technology and Technology Services, and The End User Experience. In addition to the core survey, the project delivers easy-to-use Web-based tools to create surveys, communicate with respondents, and analyze survey results. These tools are available free of charge to participating institutions of higher learning.

The current version of the Higher Education TechQual+ Assessment is located here. Institutions conducting TechQual+ surveys are also permitted to add their own institution specific service items and open-ended questions to the survey.

The project is a nation-wide effort with over three dozen participating institutions ranging from research extensive institutions  to community colleges. The project is led by Dr. Timothy M. Chester, Vice Provost and CIO at Pepperdine University.

The Higher Education TechQual+ Protocol Guide provides detailed information on the philosophy and approach of the TechQual+ project, a user's guide for the TechQual+ Web site tools, and a best practices guide for getting the most out of the project.