KPIs Across the Academic Ecosystem

By Kenwright

You're probably measuring the wrong things. Your department definitely is. And that grant you lost? Yeah, someone else understood the metrics. This book won't make you popular at faculty coffee breaks. It might just save your career.

Pages: 460
Publication: 2026
Language: English
ISBN: 9798258934901

View on Amazon

Details are supplied by the publisher catalogue. Confirm the edition, price, and availability with the retailer before buying.

0 reader favourites

Real votes on More Read. This is an interest count, not a review score.

Put your next chapter to work.

There is a strong reading opportunity in the space between University Politics and Faculty Survival. “KPIs Across the Academic Ecosystem” brings those listed subjects onto the same shelf and gives your next question a place to start. Metrics become useful when you can explain what a number represents and what it leaves out. Compare the indicator with the actual goal: that gap is a productive place to start a critical reading. The exciting next step is practical: choose a small outcome connected to the topic, attempt it, and use the reading to sharpen your decisions. A modest project can make an ambitious subject feel much more tangible. Pick a question. Open a book. See where it takes you.

Find your reading angle →

Try it on a small project

Explore Higher Education, Academic Administration, Research Metrics with a reading approach that gives the ideas somewhere to go. Metrics become useful when you can explain what a number represents and what it leaves out. Compare the indicator with the actual goal: that gap is a productive place to start a critical reading.

The listed 460 pages give a sense of extent; page count alone does not establish depth or difficulty.

A question before you choose

Does the sample explain why an example works, as well as how to reproduce it?

Try this with the topic

Use one listed topic as the starting point for a small working example. Keep a before-and-after result and explain one decision you made.

Publisher’s synopsis

Most academics hate metrics. They'll tell you 'real impact can't be quantified.' Funny how the same people keep losing grants, missing promotions, and wondering why their research gets cited by their mom and no one else. Here's the ugly truth: someone is measuring you right now. Every citation. Every student eval. Every dollar you bring in. The question isn't whether KPIs exist — it's whether you understand them. This book is not warm. It's not fuzzy. It's not going to hold your hand and tell you that you're special. It will show you exactly how academic measurement actually works: the good, the manipulative, and the 'why did we ever think this was a good idea?' You'll learn which metrics matter for tenure, which ones are total garbage, and how to make the system work for you instead of crying into your third coffee about 'publish or perish.' If you're looking for a gentle critique of neoliberalism in higher ed, put this book down slowly and walk away. If you want to game the game without losing your soul — or at least without losing your job — read on. Warning: contains sarcasm, actual data, and zero participation trophies.

Make room for the reading