Student analytics - A core specification for engagement and wellbeing analytics

Analytics can pave the way to better student wellbeing and reduce pressure on student services

Professor Edward Peck, CBE, government higher education student support champion and vice-chancellor of Nottingham Trent University, outlines his vision for data-supported student wellbeing.

It shows how higher education providers (HEPs) can use commonly collected data as the basis for predictive analytics, creating more responsive and scalable student services.

The report was produced with the support of Jisc’s data analytics team. It uses a pilot project at the University of Northumbria, which was supported by the Office for Students, as a model of best practice. Using data already collected by the university, the Northumbria project targeted resources more effectively, improving outcomes whilst reducing the strain on its student services department.

This guide is for university senior leaders and the heads of student support, student experience and digital technologies; it is produced on behalf of the Department for Education’s higher education student support champion, Professor Edward Peck.

Key findings

• Higher education providers (HEPs) should prioritise the procurement or development of student analytics
• Student analytics can be categorised into two areas: engagement analytics (relating to continuation) and wellbeing analytics
• Much of the data needed to utilise student analytics will already be collected by HEPs, though typically in administrative systems that can make its use for student analytics challenging
• HEPs that succeed in using student analytics have robust data governance and associated data architecture. This can help also reduce the burden of regulatory reporting, drive more efficient administration and pave the way for modern personalised data-driven AI and edtech
• To succeed, leaders must ensure data is put at the heart of student services provision
• Student analytics done well puts the human experience to the fore and helps ensure the valuable but finite resource of traditional student support services can be made sustainable