Frequently Asked Questions

Program Basics

1. What is The Chronicle's Great Colleges to Work For program?
2. Why participate?
3. What are the benefits of surveying in this economically challenging climate?
4. Is there a cost to participate in the program?
5. Which institutions are eligible to participate?
   
6. What is the timeline?
7. What happens after I register my institution to participate?
8. What are the roles of the primary, secondary and IT contacts?
9. Will my institution’s name be released if we are not recognized?
10. Who is ModernThink LLC?
11. Who is the Chronicle of Higher Education?
    

1. What is The Chronicle's Great Colleges to Work For program?

Now in its third year, the Great Colleges program has quickly become the premiere recognition program in higher education. Loosely based on the popular Fortune magazine list, 100 Best Companies to Work For, Great Colleges is designed to recognize institutions that are great places to work and to compile detailed benchmarking data about industry trends. Instead of ranking institutions in one big list like Fortune does, the Great Colleges program recognizes groups of colleges for specific best practices and policies, such as tenure clarity, collaborative governance, work/life balance and compensation and benefits.

The results of the survey will be showcased in The Chronicle's Academic Workplace Supplement in July 2010. Recognized institutions will benefit from positive publicity which will enhance morale and boost recruitment and retention efforts.

The assessment consists of two parts: The ModernThink Institution Questionnaire^© (“IQ”) which is essentially an audit of policies and management practices and the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^© which is an engagement survey specifically geared towards faculty and staff and administered to a random sample of Faculty, Administrators and Exempt Professional Staff. All institutions must complete both parts of the assessment to be considered for the list of Great Colleges. To learn more, go to the 2010 Survey Process.

2. Why participate?

Participants receive many benefits including:

• Gaining valuable exposure in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Academic Workplace supplement in July 2010. Click here to view the 2009 supplement Chronicle.com/academicworkplace.
• Boosting recruitment and retention of the best faculty, administrators and staff. According to one school, “[The Great Colleges recognition] had an immediate and positive impact on our ability to recruit high-quality faculty.”  According to another, “We did end up being recognized which not only was the cause for great celebration on campus but also provided support for some of our marketing and retention initiatives.” Click here to see how schools have promoted their achievement.
• Enhancing your institution’s reputation. Students and parents appreciate becoming part of a community that has been recognized for creating great workplaces for its faculty and staff.
• Improving awareness and outcomes by understanding both your institution’s strengths and its weaknesses. To learn about reports, both those that are included for free and others that are available for purchase, click here.
• Enhancing strategic planning by benchmarking against your peers and seeing how you compare. As explained by one participant, “The Great Colleges program provided us with information critical to our ongoing efforts to build and maintain an exceptional work environment… and provided validation for many of our programs and initiatives.” Click here to see an excerpt of the 2009 Higher Education Workplace Trend Report.
• Capitalizing on your school’s participation with several customization options. Click here to learn more.

Select Why Participate to learn more.

3. What are the benefits of surveying in this economically challenging climate?

In difficult economic times, institutions are focused on prioritizing limited resources. The survey results will help highlight the areas where there are the greatest needs, thereby allowing you to allocate resources towards programs that will have the most immediate impact. In addition, engaging your faculty and staff during this critical time will help improve morale, performance, retention and even student outcomes. In addition, the Great Colleges Program will allow you to compare yourself against peer institutions that are facing the same financial difficulties and see what best practices are helping them not only survive but actually thrive during these tough times.

4. Is there a cost to participate in the program?

There is no application fee to participate in The Chronicle's 2010 Great Colleges to Work For program. There is no fee associated with either survey component unless you choose to customize the survey or expand the audience beyond the random sample of Faculty, Administrators and Exempt Professional Staff. All institutions that apply for the 2010 Chronicle Great Colleges to Work For recognition will automatically receive three Participation Reports. Other survey feedback reports and services will be available at an additional cost.

5. Which institutions are eligible to participate?

Institutions that are eligible to participate must be non-profit, have a student enrollment exceeding 500*, and predominantly have classes available on campus (as opposed to online). Community colleges are eligible to participate. Online and for-profit schools are not eligible to participate. The registration deadline is February 12, 2010.

Even if all eligibility criteria have been met, The Chronicle and ModernThink reserve the right to limit the number of participants to ensure adequate representation across categories and classifications.
* Student enrollment is based on your institution's IPEDS full time equivalent fall student enrollment number.

6. What is the timeline?

This information is also available at Timeline. For a more detailed timeline, please select Participation Checklist.

7. What happens after I register my institution to participate?

Please refer to the Participation Checklist for a detailed list of important dates and deadlines for the program. All registered institutions will be notified via email of upcoming deadlines.

8. What are the roles of the primary, secondary and IT contacts?

The Primary Contact is the main point of contact responsible for all survey coordination. Often times, this role is filled by an HR or IR representative because completion of the Institution Questionnaire takes the most significant amount of his/her time during the survey process if this is the institution’s first year of participation.

The Secondary Contact operates as a support role for the Primary Contact.

The IT Contact is responsible for facilitating the technical aspects of the survey process. His/her role includes: white-listing the program domains, IP addresses and email addresses on your institution’s email server; participating in the Connectivity Test performed prior to the survey launch on March 1 (tentative date) to enable a smooth survey process; and being available during the survey live period from March 22 to April 16 to troubleshoot any technical issues.

9. Will my institution’s name be released if we are not recognized?

No. Because the program is also designed to help colleges improve as workplaces through the individual reports they receive, The Chronicle names only those institutions that scored well enough to be recognized in any category.

10. Who is ModernThink LLC?

ModernThink is a management consulting leader with expert knowledge in organizational culture and employee surveys. The firm has supported numerous "Best Place to Work" programs, surveying hundreds of thousands of employees nationwide. ModernThink helps leaders collect, analyze and act on employee and other feedback to improve decision-making, prioritize resources and create a high performance culture.

ModernThink manages and administers both the ModernThink Institution Questionnaire^© and The ModernThink Higher Education Survey^© components of The Chronicle's Great Colleges to Work For program and provides the data and recognition analysis to The Chronicle for publication. Learn more about ModernThink at www.modernthink.com.

11. Who is The Chronicle of Higher Education?

The Chronicle is the No. 1 source of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators. Online, The Chronicle is published every weekday and is the top destination for news, advice, and jobs for people in academe.

Participants in the Great Colleges to Work For program are recognized in the Academic Workplace supplement published in a July issue of The Chronicle. Learn more at Chronicle.com.