In an era defined by a “polycrisis” of demographic shifts and economic volatility, higher education institutions must evolve from compliance-based assessment to integrated institutional intelligence. Drawing on findings from a mixed-methods sequential explanatory study (N = 111) designed to diagnose systemic operational failures, this article uses the Institutional Ecological Systems framework to map “friction points” in administrative and student support services. Findings reveal a profound ecosystemic dysbiosis in which practitioners psychologically value assessment (M = 4.46), yet execution is paralyzed by three specific domains of entropy. These include the “Activity Trap” (Microsystem failure), in which high metabolic effort yields low strategic utility; the “Silo Effect” (Mesosystem failure), characterized by a lack of lateral connectivity; and the “Starvation Cycle” (Exosystem failure), in which data use is decoupled from resource allocation. To resolve this dissociation, this article proposes a model of Integrated Efficiency. By pivoting from structural compliance to physiological function, specifically the Sensory, Circulatory, and Metabolic functions, institutions can utilize strategies like the Friction Audit and Lateral Verification to shift from vertical compliance to horizontal intelligence.
Naima K. Wells (Thu,) studied this question.