Webber and Mathies Lead Courses in Austria

This winter, professor emerita Karen Webber is again co-leading two instructional modules with Dr. Charles Mathies (PhD, 2007) as part of the Master of Research and Innovation in Higher Education program. The courses are part of one specialty track for students in the MARIHE program, led by Professor Attila Pausits at Danube University Krems and co-funded by Erasmus Mundus and the European Commission.

Karen traveled to Krems for the first week of instruction in November and will continue online instruction through Zoom through mid-January 2023. Dr. Mathies will travel for a similar week of instruction in early December and do the remainder of instruction on Zoom.

In the first module, Institutional Research and Decision Support, Karen and Charlie are leading the students through a series of discussions on the definitions and conceptual frameworks for institutional research, the growth in IR and decision support in higher education across the globe, the current status of data analytics in higher education administration, and discussion and some hands-on practice with major tasks in IR.

In the second module, Strategic Management, students will focus on concepts and frameworks for strategic planning and how to incorporate principles of decision support with strategic management in higher education. A few guest speakers on Zoom will enrich the discussion and provide great examples of how the principles of IR and strategic management are put into practice.

"As our world and higher education continue to evolve beyond the pandemic, the principles learned in these two modules will help these aspiring graduate students prepare for their career in the future," said Webber.