Courses

The graduate certificate program in institutional research is a 15-credit program designed to provide students with the skills that support institutional planning and policy formation. Enrolling in this program can greatly benefit in-career professionals, institutional researchers, graduate students, and persons employed in related fields. You can choose to take the courses for the certificate entirely online or take by traditional means at Penn State University Park. In addition, individual online courses will be open on a space-available basis to those who are seeking to upgrade their skills but do not wish to complete the entire certificate program.

Course List - Graduate Certificate in Institutional Research

Required Courses (6 credits)
Title	Abbreviation	Description	Credits
Foundations of Institutional Research	HIED 801	Explores concepts, methodologies and research practices that support campus decision making: national datasets, planning and budgeting, enrollment management and enrollment forecasting, faculty studies and instructional analysis, institutional effectiveness and accreditation, educational effectiveness and student outcomes assessment.	3 credits
Designing Institutional Research Studies	HIED 830	Teaches best practices and necessary skills in quantitative and qualitative research design, including sampling and basic measurement issues, research methods, survey research, interviews, focus groups, and selecting appropriate statistical tools.	3 credits

Professional Electives (9 credits) — choose 3 courses from the following list
Title	Abbreviation	Description	Credits
Planning and Resource Management in Higher Education	HIED 810	Provides a working knowledge of strategic planning and resource management in higher education, especially in terms of pragmatic skills and decision-support tools relevant to institutional researchers.	3 credits
Assessing Student Outcomes and Evaluating Academic Programs	HIED 840	Examines institutional effectiveness: evaluating academic programs, assessing student learning outcomes, coping with accountability and accreditation demands. Assessment topics include studies of students' basic skills, general education, knowledge in the major, personal growth, and alumni studies.	3 credits
Administration Leadership in Higher Education or College Students and Their Success	HI ED 842 or HIED 846	This course gives students an overview of administrative leadership within higher education institutions. Students learn about organizational structure, governance, leadership, decision-making, internal and external constituencies, culture, resources, and organizational change. Brief discussions of key organizational theories are included but the course primarily focuses on administrative practice. Numerous scholars, over many years, have explored a wide array of topics about college students¿their preparation for college, their generalized and particularized characteristics, their behaviors in college, their attitudes about social issues, their relative success in achieving learning outcomes, their engagement (or lack thereof) with various components of the collegiate learning experience, their persistence, and the list goes on and on.	3 credits
Analyzing Faculty Workload, Performance, and Compensation	HIED 850	Topics include measuring faculty workload, evaluating faculty research productivity, the uses and misuses of student ratings, assessment for promotion and tenure, and methodologies for conducting salary studies.	3 credits
Conducting Enrollment Management Studies	HIED 860	Studies the three stages of enrollment management: (1) Pre-admission (attracting, admitting, and enrolling students), (2) The Initial Student Experience (orientation, advisement, curricular access, and student support services), (3) Student Success (persistence, academic achievement, graduation, and employment).	3 credits

**For doctoral or masters students who are taking courses residentially, HIED 846 can be substituted with HIED 556 and HIED 842 can be substituted with HIED 552. For more information, please contact your adviser.

Course Availability

If you're ready to see when your courses will be offered, visit our public LionPATH course search (opens in new window) to start planning ahead.