Bridging the data gap: How CEG Digital and Studyportals are revolutionising online programme planning in Higher Education with predictive insights

Only four weeks to go until the PIEoneer Awards 2024 on 13 September in London. The PIEoneer Awards celebrate innovation and achievement across the global education industry.

I am very excited and proud that we have been nominated jointly with our partner CEG Digital, in the Excellence in Data and Insight category.

National and international higher education enrolment databases fail to provide data on online international higher education. Traditional sources cannot capture its dynamic nature and the global audience it attracts. This data vacuum presents challenges for online education providers at the forefront of the digital education revolution. The seven-year collaboration of Cambridge Education Group Digital and Studyportals Analytics and Consulting is precisely based on bridging this gap, to inform agile decisions.

Reliable and forward looking data

Studyportals’ data records changes in student interest as they emerge and is a reliable indicator of enrolments 12 to 24 months into the future. UK HESA data shows a correlation of 92% between search behaviour on Studyportals and actual enrolments, 18 months later. This means that Studyportals’ data is a reliable indicator of future student recruitment, rather than a backward looking snapshot.

The student interest data on online programmes is collected by noting the actual pageviews of specific programmes. Furthermore, the Portfolio Development dashboard module can combine interest from origin countries for online programmes, and for specific subjects to predict potential new markets for online courses that do not yet exist.

CEG’s innovation in 2023 has been to use data insights for the full lifecycle of the learner’s journey: from concept (what course should be launched?), through to portfolio management (product diversification, pricing, channels, optimisation), all the way to repositioning courses (the course has been running, enrolment trends are changing, how should the marketing activity be refocussed?). The data is used through several custom dashboards with filtering and incremental updates every month.

• The ‘Market Analysis’ dashboard module gives a comprehensive picture of candidate searches for English-taught higher education courses. The data segments according to level of study and method of delivery sought, and it also breaks down automatically according to geographies and disciplines. This dashboard presents very accurate information of candidates’ intentions from across the globe, and can be used very effectively to decide which courses should be developed and launched according to gaps observed in the market.
• The ’Portfolio Development’ dashboard module gives a thorough overview of the competitive environment in which courses currently operate, with course title and keyword measuring factors, and student demand origin and geographic destination of intent. It is extremely useful to optimise course titles and the alignment of marketing campaigns with keyword trends, allowing for regional and institutional focus.
• The ‘Programme Deep Dive’ module shows live performance data on competitor courses according to a number of filters that can be applied. It is the best starting point for any repositioning activity, as it enables a quick investigation of the factors behind performance.

Cambridge Education Group Digital develops partnerships with prestigious universities across the UK to enable them to expand their reach to global markets through the provision of high-quality online learning. If CEG Digital were a university, it would now be in the top 5 in the UK by student population of part-time postgraduate study.

Data insights are embedded in all processes at CEG Digital and they regularly use the dashboard modules to inform course development, provide advice to university partners, optimise marketing and student recruitment activities, and refocus campaigns according to observable in-year trends.

Portfolio management is a key part of the partnership work of Cambridge Education Group with universities. Their understanding of the market needs to be very robust, being capable of tracking trends over time and making accurate predictions. During 2023 CEG Digital concentrated its efforts on optimising existing university online course portfolios (rather than expansion of many new courses) and with the help of accurate up-to-date market information were able to grow student numbers to record levels across their network of university partnerships.

Cost savings

The success of the Studyportals work during 2023 is evident in the increased breadth and depth of insights on offer, as well as the heightened engagement from educational institutions worldwide.

One of the key affordances of accurate data forecasting for online education is avoiding the high costs involved in launching low-recruiting courses. Online education involves front-loaded development and longer completion timelines. An unsuccessful master’s programme can produce more than £250,000 of losses in addition to resource drag over several years and likely poor student experience.

The reliability of the Studyportals data combined with CEG’s HE sector and international workforce understanding has helped CEG Digital avoid launching programmes that were unlikely to succeed, saving millions of pounds in potential costs to our HE partnerships over the last 7 years.

So, fingers crossed Professor Manuel Frutos-Perez PFHEA , Laurens Vehmeijer , Jacopo Gutterer , Mykolas Knašys , Edwin van Rest , Rob Jansen , Mena Ibrahim , Jennifer Bruce , and many more colleagues, past and present!