IU releases transparency dashboards to track strategic plan progress

Indiana University President Pam Whitten speaks during an announcement about the transformation of the IUPUI campus, on Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. (IBJ photo/Mickey Shuey)

Indiana University was set to publish three transparency dashboards Monday morning, making select internal system data public so as to track its progress toward its strategic plan goals. The dashboards provide metrics on student success, research and service to the state.

The plan, called IU 2030, centers on improving postsecondary attainment and retention rates, increasing the university’s research base and aligning its objectives with the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The data release comes more than a year after the strategic plan was originally announced.

“Our journey to IU 2030 is just getting underway, and the best is yet to come,” reads a university memo provided to IBJ and signed by IU President Pamela Whitten and three vice presidents.

More data will be added this November and in June 2025.

The dashboards include a wide breadth of data. Much of it was already publicly available, including information on the system’s $772 million in sponsored research investments in 2023, but other statistics provide clearer insight into in-state workforce retention rates and rates of published work per faculty member. The dashboards also break down data by campus.

The student success dashboard includes graduation rates, retention rates, philanthropic support for scholarships, online enrollment and grade distribution; it also includes pull-out data on students of color and 21st Century scholars. More data in the works includes student participation in career-prep experiences and microcredential completions.

The research dashboard has a breakdown of sponsored research and tallies of startups, partnerships, inventions and license revenue.

The final state support dashboard includes external partnerships and in-state retention rates. A long roster of data includes Hoosiers serving in economic development leadership, students involved in corporate-university partnership cohorts and where students go after graduation.