Enhanced UT System Dashboard focuses on user friendliness and key performance measures

AUSTIN— The University of Texas System Dashboard is now equipped with user-friendly features to better measure the System’s performance.

Developed by the UT System’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, the Dashboard provides access to data on topics such as affordability, student success, post-graduation earnings, research, health care and state economic impact.

In addition to providing information for important stakeholders, the Dashboard serves as a tool to support policy and decisions by the UT System Board of Regents and Chancellor William H. McRaven.

“The enhanced UT System Dashboard delivers compelling evidence of how UT institutions contribute to the educational attainment, economic prosperity, and health and well-being of Texas residents,” said Christine Keller, vice president of the Association of Public Land-grant Universities.  “It provides an innovative model for how data and metrics can be effectively used to communicate the value of public universities to stakeholders in an accessible, meaningful way.

The new features and updated design of today’s Dashboard were developed based on user feedback and employ a user-friendly interface. The new Dashboard provides a powerful search engine, improved site structure, easier access across platforms and reduced load times. With explanations of the methodologies, as well as the importance of certain measures, users can better understand the relevance and context of the information they seek.

“By incorporating a broader range of technologies, we’ve created a new concept that allows for multiple ways of displaying data,” said Stephanie Bond Huie, Ph.D., vice chancellor for UT System’s Office of Strategic Initiatives. “At the same time, it’s a more agile setup that allows us to update quickly and easily to trending topics.”

Since the UT System launched the Dashboard four years ago, it has been a national model for transparency and accountability.

“The UT System continues to be at the forefront of national innovation in making data transparent and actionable,” said Chris Miller, executive director of the Education Advisory Board (EAB). "The enhanced UT System Dashboard provides simplicity and usability combined with a balanced suite of measurements and the ability to drill down quickly. This dashboard is as effective as anything EAB has seen in public higher education."

Rebecca Martin, executive director of the National Association of System Heads, said higher education is the most important investment society can collectively make to promote social mobility and economic growth. As such, interest in understanding the performance of public systems and institutions of higher education is at an all-time high. Despite this interest, she said, many institutions have difficulty finding and understanding performance data, even when it’s available.  

“The University of Texas System Dashboard cuts through those challenges, turning data into actionable knowledge in clear and accessible ways,” Martin said. “By providing 11 key indicators in areas such as economic and community development to student success across diverse and mobile platforms, the UT System has shown yet again why it’s a leader in leveraging the power of systems and big data on behalf of the students, institutions and communities we serve.”

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking basic, applied and clinical research, and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. With 14 institutions and an enrollment of more than 217,000, the UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates almost two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public institutions in Texas. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $16.9 billion (FY 2016) including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With about 20,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates – and more than 70,000 health care professionals, researchers, student advisors and support staff, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.