About SAAIR

The Southern African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR) is a dynamic association with the vision of promoting institutional research, training and development, and the exchange of information in the context of an effective Institutional Research unit in each institution of higher education. SAAIR was founded in 1994, and is affiliated to the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) in the United States.

Institutional Research (IR) has been defined in various ways, but typically refers to a cluster of activities that supports decision-making, policy analysis, quality assurance, effective management, projections and planning in higher education. Southern African institutions are increasingly recognising the need for IR in order to address the variety of policies regulating higher education, and many institutions are creating IR offices, albeit using a variety of titles.
Our membership includes persons involved in IR, Management Information, Institutional Planning, Quality Assurance, HEMIS, and Student Administration, as well as Academics. SAAIR holds annual forums, at which members can disseminate research, and discuss issues relevant to the IR profession. Recent and future conference themes include:

Enhancement (Cape Town, South Africa, 2011)
Student Success (Johannesburg, South Africa, 2010)
The Impact of IR on Institutional Effectiveness: Are we Closing the Loop? (Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 2009)
IR Responding to the Changing Higher Education Environment (Windhoek, Namibia, 2008)
Providing MI to reach Institutional Goals: for Whom, What and How? (Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2007)
Quality in Higher Education: Benchmarking and Barriers (Gabarone, Botswana, 2006)
Checking the pulse of Higher Education: Efficiency, Effectiveness and Resourcing (Mthatha, South Africa, 2005)
Excellence in practice (Durban, South Africa, 2004)
Institutional Research: Extending the borders (Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2003)
Management Information Technology and Systems for Institutional Research (Cape Town, South Africa, 2002)
Research and Development in Higher Education: Meeting Challenges through Technology and Innovation (Joint conference with SAARDHE, Belville, South Africa, 2001)
The reconfiguration of the South African Higher Education landscape and its implications for institutional research (Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 2000).

Other activities include the IR, HEMIS and Quality institutes, first offered in 2004, as well as a research project aimed at standardising the way in which retention is analysed and reported.