Dongguk University (President Yoon Sung-yee) has independently developed an IR (institutional research) system, the data-based “decision-making support system,” bringing the university into spotlight among the country's universities. The university has also completed the process of filing the patent of the system.

Soon after the inauguration of President Yoon Sung-yee, Dongguk University spurred its efforts regarding the creation of an IR system and appointed a team dedicated to supporting the university's data-based decision-making. The development of the IR system commenced in March, 2020, and the project was completed in seven months in September, 2020. Following a prior art search with a view of registering the patent for the IR system, the patent filing process was completed on the 12th October, 2020. The services of the system were launched in the university after the filing of the patent.

The IR system provides 13 services in the following three areas for the faculty and staff: management and administration, on- and off-campus evaluation, and teaching and research. The system has the following specialized functions: a) prediction of student complaints, b) prediction of dropout potential of students, c) analysis of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), d) simulation of external evaluations including assessment of basic competencies of university students, and e) analysis of students' learning activity over the life cycle.

The IR system functions related to administration divisions can predict probable on campus student complaints. For instance, the system has predicted that next month (December) will bring a lot of complaints from students belonging to the College of Engineering, College of the Social Science, and Dongguk Business School regarding their majors, enrollment, course completion, etc. This prediction is generated from the data accumulated over the last three years. The IR system will thus assist in enabling a systematic response by the university ahead of time based on the prediction of students’ complaints.

Gong Hye-jeong, the manager of Dongguk University's IR team, said, "Although we are expected to ensure qualitative management of resources and upgrade the students’ qualitative competitiveness to cope with the rapidly changing higher education environment, many of the universities in the country have faced the problem of inefficient administration due to irrational decision-making that depends on intuition or personal experiences." Gong added, "As making strategic and reasonable decisions based on objective data and information can support higher competitiveness and sustainable growth of students, we have established the data-based decision-making system."

With the establishment of its IR system, Dongguk University is now able to preemptively solve various on-campus problems and provide customized administrative services. The university expects that the system will improve the quality of education by creating an efficient data use and feedback system and also boost its management performance, leading to its excellent performance in the sectors of education and management.