Higher Education Research Institute (HERI)

The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) is an organization that promotes institutional improvement and educational policy and its impact on college students (HERI, 2011). They work with higher education institutions, conduct research, provide tools that allow institutions to access research, train researchers and create partnerships with higher education organizations to promote excellence (HERI, 2011). They primarily focus on longitudinal studies.

Within HERI, the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) conducts a variety of  national longitudinal surveys and has a running list of surveys targeted to Freshman. They have been offering the "Your First College Year" survey since 2000 and is the first national survey designed to analyze academic and personal development of a college student during their first year of college (HERI, 2011). They work with the Policy Center on the First Year of College at Brevard College and the results of the survey help institutions determine their focus for student learning, satisfaction and involvement. Lastly, they conduct an exit survey for graduating seniors and it focuses on degree plans, student-faculty interaction and student goals and values (HERI, 2011). 

The Higher Education Research Institute funds research and work with other organizations such as the Department of Education, Atlantic Philanthropies and the Diverse Learning Environment program. The following report is from the post Baccalaureate Experiences, Success, and Transition (BEST) project and helps to understand barriers for underrepresented minorities in certain fields such as math and science (HERI, 2011).

The report, Access to Resources, looks at underrepresented minority students in biomedical and behavioral sciences. The trend indicates that the numbers of interested underrepresented students is increasing and there is increased interest in programs such as biomedical and behavioral sciences. While there has been an increase of racial and ethnic minorities in higher education, they have remained underrepresented is such degree programs. There have been an increased number entering the degrees but the matriculation rates are low (Hurtado, Chang, Chang & Oseguera, 2005). The researchers theorize that this remains because of inequitable distribution of resources, anticipatory socialization and the social cognitive career theory (Hurtado et al, 2005). Their research was conducted based on the Cooperative Institutional Research Freshman survey with over 400,000 respondents at 720 institutions (Hurtado et al, 2005).  The survey found that high school interventions may increase interest within certain majors. The biomedical and behavioral sciences majors need to expand their programs to include underrepresented populations and lastly, financial support is needed for underrepresented students interested in the sciences.

While the Higher Education Research Institute does not specifically deal with financing of higher education they do find disparities within financing for certain majors and programs which helps colleges and universities to identify areas that may need additional funding.  

HERI. 2011. Mission statement. Retrieved from http://www.heri.ucla.edu/mission.php.

HERI. 2011. 2011 CIRP survey. Retrieved from http://www.heri.ucla.edu/cirpoverview.php.

HERI. 2011. 2012 Your first college year survey. Retrieved from http://www.heri.ucla.edu/yfcyoverview.php.

HERI. 2011.  2012 College senior survey. Retrieved from http://www.heri.ucla.edu/cssoverview.php.

HERI. 2011. HERI reports. Retrieved from http://www.heri.ucla.edu/cssoverview.php.

Hurtado, S., Chang, J., Chang, M., Osecguera, L. (2005). Access to Resources: pre-college characteristics and experiences of underrepresented minority students in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.heri.ucla.edu/publications-brp.php.