Abstract: The development of institutional research in China has been nearly 20 years, and its fundamental purpose is to improve the quality of university management to promote the construction and development of schools. The development of institutional research in domestic universities is uneven, and there is a practical demand for conducting institutional research on the development of local provincial universities. However, institutional research on local provincial universities faces many problems: limitations in management thinking, formalization of institutional settings, lack of data system sources, and generalization of school development positioning. In order to solve the problems, the promotion of institutional research in local provincial universities needs to rely on expanding the influence of institutional research, integrating institutional research institutions and personnel, exerting the substantive role of data, and determine a educational positioning and development path.

Key words: Institutional research, Origin, Definition, Realistic appeal, Problem, Development path