“The Higher Education Commission is an independent body made up leaders from the education sector, the business community and the major political parties. Established in response to demand from Parliamentarians for a more informed and reflective discourse on higher education issues, the Higher Education Commission examines higher education policy, holds evidence-based inquiries, and produces written reports with recommendations for policymakers.”

The Potential of Data and Analytics in Higher Education, January 2016: “Higher Education is at a point of unprecedented uncertainty and change, with fiscal changes that are leading to increasing focus upon a more student (and customer) focused model. There are new entrants into the market place, some of them offering flexible education online, and increasing focus upon international competition and overseas’ markets. Our inquiry found that institutions today have to respond to many external pressures in an effective and dynamic way, as well as to better understand – and better meet – the needs of the student body, as both key participant and funder of higher education. We are all aware of the fast-changing pace of technology and how it has revolutionised most parts of the business world; and equally aware that the higher education system may seem slow to embrace technology’s potential for change. We believe that there is often good reason for this; HE is a mature sector which has managed to adapt and develop in order to fit its shifting environmental context over many years. However, we are now faced with both more dramatic impetus to change coupled with the huge potential offered by the digital revolution. This inquiry has found that big data and analytics are trends in technology which are being used to make businesses to have more understanding of their customers and products and so become both more efficient and also able to spot trends and opportunities, and be more innovative. This report sets out recommendations that emphasise the importance of a strategy for data and analytics that needs to be put in place, and kept up-to-date, by each university. We recommend that institution needs to plan for how it will move forward from where it currently sits, in terms of systems, data and capability, to where it would like to be in the future. Change is needed in order to make this possible – and the will to change needs to come from the leadership at the head of each institution…”