Human Capital Research Corporation (HCRC) was established in 1991 to provide strategic and tactical information to educational practitioners. Our mission is to advance opportunity, productivity and value in higher education by providing policy information based on rigorous analysis and through collaborative examination of the structures, practices, outcomes and environments of our institutional clients.
Using a wide array of statistical research methods and rubrics reflecting multiple disciplines, HCRC offers a wide range of quantitatively based research services that fall under the general purview of enrollment management, curriculum development and institutional finance.
With a professional staff of fifteen research analyst consultants and three information technology- application developers, HCRC maintains an active client portfolio of 44 colleges and universities – representing diverse positions in the higher education marketplace – from some of the most selective institutions in the United States to open-enrollment. In addition to its core perpetual campus level engagements, HCRC works with a small number of education consortia, units of government and foundations on issues related to public finance, the economic and social returns of higher education, labor market analysis, long-term economic sustainability and the development and advancement of strategic information.
While we are a for-profit corporation, we maintain a deep and abiding interest in public purpose and are committed to advancing the social well-being and the long-run sustainability of the higher education enterprise. With more than a twenty year legacy of service, we pride ourselves in our capacity to help institutions establish intelligent and agile reporting systems that provide deep insights into their own enterprise. As such, virtually all client engagements with HCRC are entered into as long term collaborative partnerships.
With respect to professional practice, Human Capital stands apart from all other higher education research consultancies in a number of important respects including:
- The depth and breadth of our data specifications and rigorous standards with respect to data conditioning and adjudication;
- The sophistication of our research methodologies and analytic rubrics with a strong orientation towards comprehensive integrated strategies and solutions;
- Strong capabilities and agility to develop, administer and integrate primary (survey-based) research with transaction data;
- A capacity to adapt our research in accordance with client needs and an ability to clearly distinguish between efforts that concern treating symptoms as opposed to addressing root causes and underlying drivers and conditions;
- An ability to effectively and extensively mine public domain information in an effort to help contextualize the circumstances and objectives of our clients as they related to the large market environment;
- An abiding commitment to higher education’s public purpose and for advancing the long term economic sustainability of the education enterprise for the greater good of society;
- Attention to building client’s internal capacity as much as a focus on addressing the forthcoming admission academic cycle.
Clients who work with Human Capital find that they often have to make a greater effort on their part with respect to the capture and organization of data; in the contemplation of research findings; and in their internal efforts to innovate and advance their market position. We offer no gimmicks, quick fixes or magic bullets and we have little interest in helping institutions pursue abstract goals that pander to the national rankings or advancement of prestige as objectives in their own right.
Our greatest strengths stem from our capacity to listen and to intelligently contextualize and frame the needs and objectives of our clients and frame those issues through the lens of rigorous quantitative analysis and the creative data visualization. With a long-term client retention rate in excess of 97 percent, the vast majority of HCRC’s clients embrace our work as an on-going authentic collaboration - with an understanding that our shared efforts constitutes joint product with shared responsibilities among all parties.
Human Capital embraces this same ethos as an employer as well and sees the cultivation of its staff as a core mission of the organization. As such, HCRC makes deep investments in the training and professional advancement of its staff with a devotion to shared learning and continuous innovation. Without exception, all projects at HCRC are conducted and rendered as collaborative team efforts.