Executive Summary

A recent report from the National Innovation Initiative (NII) calls for an “innovation infrastructure” as the foundation for the nation’s future productivity and competitiveness.[1]  The report notes that,

“Innovation generates the productivity that economists estimate has accounted for half of U.S. GDP growth over the past 50 years.  …  It’s not only about offering new products and services, but also improving them and making them more affordable.” 

While not ignoring nonprofit organizations and even targeting the nonprofit health-care industry, the NII report is curiously silent on any need for innovation and its byproduct, productivity, in nonprofit higher education’s core educational mission.  In contrast, the National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education (NCAHE) recently transmitted its final report with a clear statement of belief that,

“improved accountability for better results is imperative, but how to improve accountability in higher education is not so obvious.”[2]

This paper is an evidence-based, narrative counterargument that how to improve accountability in nonprofit higher education is reasonably clear by now:  use information technology (IT) innovatively to redesign academic and administrative services, including instruction, for improved effectiveness and efficiency—improved “academic productivity” in the language of the NCAHE.  We cite proven innovations and practices while expanding on a line of thought captured in two recent publications 1) to explain why improved accountability requires the innovation leverage of IT and 2) to promote two proven, innovation strategies for improving accountability through IT-enabled service process redesign.[3], [4]