The team is responsible for an array of activities that have strategic importance to the University, ranging from statutory reporting to institutional data analysis, and delivering insights to the Senior Management. We work closely with leaders of the University and academic units, and partner with many administrative units on projects of high impact.
Below highlights some of our major responsibilities.
Statutory Reporting and Assessment Exercises
The University is required to compile and submit data to the University Grants Committee (UGC) throughout the year. The data collection exercise is called Common Data Collection Format, or CDCF. CDCF data is an important device for realizing accountability of UGC-funded institutions as it allows the government and the general public to understand the key operational parameters of universities. OIDR is the coordinator of CDCF. We are responsible for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of CDCF data, bridging communications with data owners, and assessing the impact of changes.
OIDR also plays a pivotal role in providing data support and insights to other critical UGC exercises such as the University Accountability Agreement (UAA), the Planning Exercise Proposals (PEP), and the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). They are designed to keep track of key activities, mission, and goals of UGC-funded institutions, and as one of the evaluation measures for funding allocation purposes.
Data Analytics
While OIDR does not own nor collect operational data, we pull together data within and outside of the University to do analytics covering many domains: from assessing performance of academic units to profiling researchers, and benchmarking against international peers to conducting exploratory and diagnostic studies to identify development opportunities.
As a unit that uses data to drive our daily work, we advocate data transparency, availability, and governance. The PAIR Portal provides opportunities for members of the University to get hold of institutional data, and to benefit their work by deriving their own insights.
Data and Digital Transformation
The higher-education landscape is changing faster than ever. Although HKUST is a young university, we are already embarking important transformation projects to ensure that the University stays competitive and efficient. OIDR works closely with the Provost Office to drive changes that have high impact to students, faculty members, and administrators.
The first such project is the implementation of Pure, a research information management platform that aims to unify information arising from the University's research activities to be a single source of truth for sharing and analyzing research related data across the University.
Risk Management
Risk management is a process involving the identification and assessment of potential risks that may affect the University, and formulating strategic actions to manage those risks within the risk appetite to ensure that strategic objectives are achieved. OIDR works closely with different risk owners across the University to identify and mitigate risks, and develop key risk indicators (KRI) to monitor and assess risk levels.
The Associate Provost (Institutional Data and Research) is also the University's Risk Officer, and reports periodically to the Audit Committee of the University Council on matters regarding the risk management process.
University Rankings
The University recognizes the impact of university rankings and is always looking for opportunities to affirm the different league tables reflect the University in its best possible light. OIDR is responsible for compiling data required for selected rankings exercises, and ensuring submissions are compliant to requirements of rankings bodies. We analyse rankings results to identify potential areas of improvements, and benchmark key metrics against our peers to gain a deeper understanding of our performance and emerging trends of the sector, both local and beyond.
