2020 IT Benchmarking & Strategic Planning
UITS conducts an annual benchmarking analysis to assess our strategy and operations relative to higher education peers and IT units across the University of Arizona. The analysis compares strategic priorities, services, organizational design, personnel, operating and capital expenditures, suppliers, and operational maturity is used to inform data driven decision- making with university leadership, IT leadership, and IT staff. This information is published in the university’s IT annual report to foster transparency and support strategic planning activities.
External Benchmarking
The University of Arizona, a land-grant university with two independently accredited medical schools, is one of the nation’s top public universities in the U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) national university rankings. The university is also ranked in the top 20 in research expenditures among all public institutions and is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). In FY20, UArizona’s IT expenditure was 6.2%, which was the smallest expenditure compared to higher education peers in all other benchmark categories.
Information Technology at Arizona
The University of Arizona’s IT community is comprised of 782.1 professionals across central and distributed job functions that support college, institutional, auxiliary, and enterprise-wide services. The annual expenditure in FY20 for IT across the university was $100.9 M.
View University IT FY20 Workforce & Expenditures
University Information Technology Services
University Information Technology Services operates and manages central IT services for University of Arizona faculty, staff and students. Within the division, there are 291.4 total IT FTEs represented in UCAP IT job families. The annual expenditure in FY20 for UITS was $77.6 M.
View UITS FY20 Workforce & Expenditures
Higher Education IT Benchmarking
| University of Arizona | ABOR Peers | Public AAU | Public Land Grant Institutions | Public MD-Granting Institutions | USNWR Public 2021 Top 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty FTE1 | 2.8K | 3.9K | 3.3K | 1.8K | 2.2K | 2.8K |
| Student FTE2 | 39.3K | 43.9K | 36.2K | 22.3K | 22.4K | 33.3K |
| Research Expenditures3 (in the thousands) | $687.1M | $899.2M | $702.3M | $305.7M | $ 371.7M | $ 579.1M |
| Total Expenditures4 (net of hospital) | $2,060.7M | $3,070.2M | $2,371.8M | $1.115.7M | $1,369.9M | $2,023.7M |
| IT FTE5 | 714.3 | 1,175.2 | 922.8 | 618.3 | 655.9 | 891.8 |
| IT Expenditures5 | $128.1M | $203.6M | $166.7M | $109.8M | $ 120.1M | $155.3M |
| IT Staff per 1,000 Students | 18.19 | 26.78 | 25.49 | 27.77 | 29.27 | 26.81 |
| IT Exp as % of Total | 6.2% | 6.6% | 7.0% | 9.8% | 8.8% | 7.7% |
Sources
1 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) - Spring 2019, Human Resources Component
2 IPEDS Spring 2019, Fall Enrollment Component
3 NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey FY18
4 IPEDS Spring 2019, Finance Component
5 Educause Core Data Service Survey FY19