Too Many Targets, Not Enough Clarity
Last week you may have seen my post on Canada’
Andrew Drinkwater
International Student Targets in Canada are Changing (again....)
The 2025 Canadian federal budget brings new clarity - and
Planting a Tree
I planted a tree in our back yard as part of an elementary school project. In the first year I made sure it had appropriate water, soil, and enough light. But I could barely see its early growth. Similarly, changes in higher education take time to ripple through the system.
Plaid Analytics Joins MortarCAPS Higher Learning Data Standard
Today we are thrilled to announce that we have joined
Scenarios vs. Predictions
Relying only on predictions risks locking institutions into a false sense of security. Scenarios, on the other hand, open up conversations about resilience, trade-offs, and strategic agility.
Mergers & Acquisitions in Higher Ed
Mergers and acquisitions are increasingly seen as tools to address financial stress, enrolment challenges, and competitive pressures. But they are not without pitfalls. Yet, when handled well they can create opportunities for students and preserve legacies that might otherwise be lost.
The Wisdom of the Crowd in Enrolment Forecasting
The crowd sees signals that may not show up in your data systems—early student concerns, housing bottlenecks, employer demand shifts. Together, they create a more balanced view of the future.
Setting Enrolment Targets in Higher Education - Part 4: How Predictive Modelling and AI are Transforming Enrolment Planning
Enrolment Forecasting is fundamentally a predictive modelling process: given a series of inputs, what are the outputs likely to be? But enrolment target setting is a little different. It’s a human process, informed by data: what is our strategic goal, and how do we get there?
Setting Enrolment Targets in Higher Education - Part 3: Where do Institutions get Stuck? Common Pitfalls in the Enrolment Target-Setting Process.
Many people I speak with feel they don’t know how to set a high quality target that is informed by data and research. Instead, they end up using what they used last year, with some difference over time. Most years, this method will work. But it carries some risks.
Setting Enrolment Targets in Higher Education - Part 2: How do Enrolment Targets Become Reality?
In the last blog, we discussed how targets are created.