STRIDES AI Readiness Assessment
A structured, institution-focused approach to understanding and planning responsible AI adoption in higher education
STRIDES AI Readiness Assessment
A structured, institution-focused approach to understanding and planning responsible AI adoption in higher education
What Is STRIDES?
The STRIDES AI Readiness Assessment is a comprehensive diagnostic designed to help colleges and universities understand their current readiness for artificial intelligence adoption and identify practical next steps.
Rather than focusing solely on technology, STRIDES evaluates the institutional conditions required for sustainable, ethical, and mission-aligned AI use, spanning strategy, governance, data, skills, and operations. The assessment is tailored to the realities of higher education, including shared governance, academic freedom, risk management, and resource constraints.
What STRIDES Assesses
STRIDES evaluates readiness across seven core dimensions.
- Strategy & Leadership: Institutional vision, executive sponsorship, alignment with mission, and decision-making structures for AI.
- Technology Infrastructure: Core systems, integration capabilities, data platforms, security posture, and scalability.
- Readiness of Data: Data quality, availability, governance, stewardship, and trust required to support AI use cases.
- Institutional Capacity: Faculty and staff AI literacy, role clarity, training needs, and cultural readiness.
- Deployment & Use Cases: Current experimentation, pilots, operational use, and ability to scale AI initiatives.
- Ethics & Policy Framework: Policies, academic integrity considerations, privacy, compliance, and ethical safeguards.
- Sustainability & Adoption: Funding models, resourcing, adoption planning, and continuous improvement mechanisms.
How the Assessment Works
The STRIDES assessment typically includes:
- A structured survey instrument tailored to higher education stakeholders
- Participation from senior leadership, IT, faculty, administrators, and data owners
- Optional facilitated discussions or workshops to contextualize results
- Analyst-led interpretation to move beyond scores to actionable insight
Institutions may complete STRIDES as a standalone engagement or as the starting point for broader data and AI planning.
Key Deliverables
Institutions receive a clear, decision-ready set of outputs, including:
STRIDES Readiness Profile
A visual summary of readiness across all seven dimensions
Strengths & Gap Analysis
Identification of institutional advantages, constraints, and risk areas
Priority Focus Areas
A short list of high-impact improvement opportunities
Executive Summary for Leadership
Plain-language findings suitable for cabinet, boards, or committees
Recommended Next Steps
Practical options for advancing AI maturity, governance, skills, and infrastructure
Executive Summary for Leadership
Plain-language findings suitable for cabinet, boards, or committees
How Institutions Use STRIDES
STRIDES is commonly used to:
- Establish a baseline AI readiness before investing in tools or pilots
- Inform AI strategy and roadmap development
- Support governance and risk framework design
- Align stakeholders around a shared understanding of AI opportunities and constraints
- Guide sequenced, responsible AI adoption rather than ad hoc experimentation
Designed for Higher Education
STRIDES is purpose-built for colleges and universities and reflects:
- Shared governance and consensus-driven decision-making
- Diverse stakeholder needs across academics and administration
- Data privacy, compliance, and ethical obligations
- The need to balance innovation with institutional risk
What Comes Next
Many institutions use STRIDES as the foundation for:
- Defining a future-state AI maturity target
- Building a multi-year AI and data roadmap
- Developing AI governance and technology assessment frameworks
- Assessing skills and competency gaps across the institution
STRIDES does not prescribe a single path—it equips institutions to choose the right path forward.
Clarity before commitment. Readiness before scale. Contact Tambellini Group to learn more.
