There is a scenario that plays out somewhere in the HE sector almost every year. A small institution is approaching the Student Record return cycle. The person who has managed the return for the last several years is unavailable – on long-term sick leave, has left, is managing a concurrent crisis, or simply cannot remember…
“Data-driven” has become one of the safest phrases in higher education. It appears in strategies, board papers and funding bids. We reassure ourselves that we are data-driven. We celebrate dashboards. We track metrics. We monitor trends. And all of that is positive. It signals seriousness about accountability and performance. But there is a subtle distinction…
The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 has now been released. For many institutions, this will sit quietly in the background. Access and Participation Plans are already agreed. Targets are set. Baselines were calculated using earlier versions of IMD. Regulatory dashboards haven’t visibly shifted yet. So it’s easy to assume this is a “later” problem. It…
When people talk about artificial intelligence today, it often sounds as though it appeared fully formed in the last few years. In reality, AI has a much longer and messier history. Long before chatbots and large language models, researchers were already trying to work out whether machines could think, learn, or reason. In the week…
This is a question I see come up a lot, and it is a very reasonable one: Where can I find UK university data dashboards online? It sounds like there should be a clear, obvious answer. A central website, a set of interactive dashboards, maybe something you can filter and explore. In reality, the answer…
Data fluency is a term that gets used a lot, often interchangeably with data literacy. In practice, this creates confusion. People assume it is about technical skill, dashboards, or learning another tool. That misunderstanding is one of the reasons organisations struggle to make progress with data, even when they invest heavily in systems. I find…
At the start of 2026, it feels like the conversation around AI in higher education is shifting. The early excitement has not disappeared, but it has settled into something more serious and, in some cases, more uncomfortable. The question is no longer whether institutions will use AI, but whether they are ready to use it…
As the year draws to a close and the Christmas lights start appearing in windows, I have found myself looking back on what has been my first full year as an independent consultant. It has been a year of learning, building, experimenting, and, most of all, gratitude. If you had told me twelve months ago…
Introduction: A subtle change with big implications The 2025 Higher Education Students Early Statistics (HESES 25) return introduces a major shift in how subjects are reported for funding purposes. While the mechanics might look straightforward, moving from broad price groups to 58 detailed subject groupings, the implications for funding, planning, and internal reporting are far-reaching….
There’s a lot of talk about how AI will transform higher education. From predictive analytics and chatbots to course planning and workload models, the possibilities seem endless. But in all the excitement, it’s easy to forget one uncomfortable truth: AI is only as smart as the data we give it. Most of the datasets we…
