Student-Related Institutional Definitions Being Finalized

Late last year, Ohio State’s Data Governance team launched a new initiative to standardize institutional definitions, partnering with colleagues across the university.

The first batch of these definitions, including full-time student, part-time student, and student rank has been finalized and is posted on the approved institutional definitions webpage. University members are encouraged to review these definitions and keep them in mind when discussing and analyzing student-related data.

The second batch of student-related terms, including definitions for full-time, part-time, and half-time students, is ready for community review. The group is open to hearing from all faculty and staff from the university and Wexner Medical Center during the review period. Those interested in reviewing these definitions are asked to fill out this Qualtrics survey by Friday, February 10.

Why is this work important?

While faculty and staff at the university use terms like “student” and “employee” every day, there are no standard definitions for these terms across the university and Wexner Medical Center. For everyday use, it might not seem to matter that these common terms do not have a standardized institutional definition, but once data comes into the picture, start trying to dive into data, the inconsistencies in how these terms are defined can lead to confusion and inaccurate reporting and analysis.

How does this work?

Working in batches of related terms, the Data Governance team facilitates the development of working groups, composed of faculty and staff from across the university and medical center, to create standardized institutional definitions. Faculty and staff interested in being involved in future definition creation, can fill out this Qualtrics survey to be notified of upcoming opportunities.

More information and future terms up for defining can be found on the project’s website.