Andrew Drinkwater

Modelling Impacts of International Study Permit Changes in Canada

Since summer, the Canadian federal government has been musing about cutting back on new international student study permits. Well, it finally happened. This post discusses some of the potential impacts, and provides an forecast of how enrolments will change as a result of this new policy.

Canada Considering Cap on International Enrolments. What's the Impact?

If I were a Provost, I'd be asking my Institutional Research team to game out what these scenarios might look like compared to our current plans. Here's what we were expecting at Plaid University:

Is Final Final Final Projection the right Final file?

Scenario planning allows your institution to better plan for what happens when things change, and it can be automated to update in near real time if you need. But it's very hard to keep track of all those scenarios unless you have a robust system that was designed for collaboration from day one.

Why We Built Plaid Forecast

“I’ve got a PhD in robotics engineering, and you’

Is Enrolment Forecasting Cooperative or Collaborative?

Institutional Researchers can unintentionally end up as gatekeepers to the collaborative enrolment forecasting model. They've built it by hand, using tools and skills available to them at the time, but the models aren't built for scale. Plaid Forecast is.

Why Write Code?

Clearly, I love SQL. But do I use it anymore? Rarely. Instead, I use visual workflows for my data integrations.

How Data Governance Supports SEM

Building transparency in SEM and enrolment forecasting is key to ensuring alignment and collaboration between your stakeholders, and data governance helps to support this transparency while keeping data safe and secure.

Enrolment Forecasting in Support of SEM

SEM prompts consideration of the many variables, both academic and administrative, that impact a student’s experience, progress, and future enrolment. Data, or the lack thereof, influences an institution's ability to define what future student populations may look like.

The Role of Data Governance in Enrolment Forecasting

While some might argue that a forecast is just data about students who aren’t even real, the forecast is a great place to tie in data governance. In our research, every data governance leader recommended starting small, with a pilot. An enrolment forecast is a great pilot initiative.

Peak of Data Integration: 2022 FME User Conference

Automated data integration enabled Douglas College to generate a staged release of course registration timeslots over a two week timespan, which will grant over 20,000 students access to registration. This dynamic timeslot process better adapts to evolving registration policy and practices.