Group Decision Making in Higher Education Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can be applied to those situations in higher education where a group must evaluate a large number of alternatives. The suggested approach is illustrated using a case study that considers the evaluation of academic research papers at Villanova University. Following the discussion of this successful case study, a second example indicates how the AHP can be applied to the more complex problem of institution-wide strategic planning. These examples clearly demonstrate that the AHP approach is a versatile tool that can be applied to a wide range of important academic evaluation problems.