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Rising competition for college and university students will only continue to grow as the number of high school graduates shrink over the next decade, student demographics shift and other financial pressures persist. For many higher education institutions, understanding that each student has unique needs, attitudes, behaviors and motivations may be critical to recruitment and retention.

Newport, Rhode Island.  Home of mansions, sailboats, and for three crisp days in November, the Northeast Association for Institutional Research (NEAIR).  The HelioCampus booth outside the Grand Ballroom buzzed with energy as friends greeted each other, exchanged news, and compared notes on changes in their offices.  For me, NEAIR is home.

The ACCT 2019 Community College Leadership Congress was held from October 16-19 in San Francisco, marking the event’s 50^th anniversary.  The organization supports Trustees, Leadership Boards and Presidents of Community Colleges across the country, and aims “to foster the principles and practices of exemplary governance while promoting high quality and affordable higher education, cutting-edge workforce and development training, student success and the opportunity for all individuals to achieve economic self-sufficiency and security.” The event’s theme was “Past is Prologue;” the focus heavily on preparing for the future and the evolving roles of community college leadership in the quickly changing landscape of higher education.

As I attended the 2019 EACUBO Annual Meeting in Baltimore Maryland, I was surprised not only by the quality of the content but also by the importance of such events. I believe that large gatherings, such as this,  of like-minded people is key to disseminating ideas and highlighting where the industry is heading. I was fortunate enough to attend several sessions on topics like Cloud Migration, Alignment of Technology and Strategic Plans, Data Security, Program Margin and Program Prioritization, to name a few.

The HelioCampus team was at EDUCAUSE last week, along with a large contingent of higher education IT. We had a great time meeting with current clients and talking with many of you about your analytics plans. As in years past, data continues to be a hot topic, and was so reflected in the EDUCAUSE 2020 Top 10 IT Issues (listed below:) 

The shift to Performance-Based Funding (PBF; sometimes also known as “Outcomes-Based Funding”) as a means of determining state allocations to higher education institutions is one of the dominant trends shaping higher education today, particularly within the public sector. Over 30 states now have some sort of PBF initiative on the books, with others likely to follow within the next decade. Accounting for the impact of PBF has thus become a critical element for university leaders to ensure the financial health of their institutions.

The Southeast Association of Institutional Research (SAIR) conference was held in Greenville, SC from September 29 – October 1, 2019. The SAIR Conference is an excellent forum for the dissemination of information and interchange of ideas on problems of common interest in the field of institutional research. The theme of the conference was “Tools for Transformation,” and, naturally, data analytics was a hot topic.

I was recently able to spend three days in Louisville, KY at the National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) annual conference, talking to people about enrollment management practices. A major theme of the conference this year was data, and how to use data to improve the efficiency of admissions, recruitment, and enrollment operations. Institutions are looking to improve the matching between students and schools, more effectively communicate with their prospects, and ensure that they enroll a class of a size and academic preparedness consistent with their institutional missions.

Last week I attended the Achieving the Dream (ATD) Data & Analytics Summit in College Park, Maryland. Achieving the Dream is an organization dedicated to the success of community college students and closing achievement gaps, especially for low income students and students of color.  Our client, Harford Community College (HCC) is one of 277 colleges currently partnering with ATD to build institutional capacity and develop transformative student success initiatives. HelioCampus’ partnership with HCC has allowed us to not only support the immediate analysis needs of the institution but also provide key performance metrics for ATD.

The 2019 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference (HBCU) was held September 8 – 11, 2019 at the Renaissance Washington in Washington DC. The conference focus was on how HBCUs can successfully compete for top opportunities while providing education and economic experiences that can improve standards of living for the students, people, and communities they principally serve.