The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) is a national longitudinal study of the American higher education system. It is regarded as the most comprehensive source of information on college students.
Established in 1966 at the American Council on Education, the CIRP is now the nation’s largest and oldest empirical study of higher education, involving data on some 1,900 institutions, over 15 million students, and more than 300,000 faculty. CIRP surveys have been administered by the Higher Education Research Institute since 1973. The CIRP longitudinal program consists of the Freshman Survey (TFS) , Your First College Year (YFCY) Survey, Diverse Learning Environments Survey (DLE), and the College Senior Survey (CSS). In 2021, HERI moved under the umbrella of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) within the UCLA School of Education & Information Science.
In 2023, the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies (UCLA Ed&IS) and the American Council on Education (ACE) partnered to strengthen and lead the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). Today, HERI is the longest running, most comprehensive data collection of institutes of higher education, including data on more than 1,900 institutions, over 15 million students, and more than 300,000 faculty. CRESST, a research and development center within UCLA Ed&IS and the administrative home for HERI, partners with ACE in carrying out HERI’s portfolio. Through this partnership, ACE and UCLA Ed&IS will elevate and expand HERI’s research and reach through ACE’s extensive capacity and expertise in faculty and presidential-level data collection and research, and CRESST’s knowledge and expertise in assessment and methodology. ACE and CRESST are collaborating on data sharing, research design and development, and supporting higher education institutions’ leadership and the students they serve. For more information on the partnership, see the partnership announcement.