Education Policy, Business and Technology

Using Data to Expose Industry Needs - and Design Degree Programs Accordingly

Campus Technology: The concept of student success holds many meanings, with data at the core of all of them. For some schools it's wrapped around the notion of alerts pinned to particular student activities: Gosh, he hasn't logged into the learning management system in two weeks; inform the instructor to reach out. Or, oh, she's not using her meal card; notify her adviser for follow-up. For others, it's all about targeting "best-fit" students and better managing recruitment and enrollment funnels. But, really, in this era of accountability, maybe the ultimate definition of student success ought to be somebody graduating with the smarts, skills and connections needed to get a good job in a given field.

A New Jersey university used that last meaning to help define new growth areas for its school of business. The use of basic data anybody could really access led to the launch of one new undergraduate degree major and two new graduate-level programs, all of which are meeting enrollment goals.

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