One of the most critical facets of managing a higher education institution is student data. You’re collecting it at an exponential rate every day, especially now that one of the primary ways you engage with students is through digital channels. From admissions and advising to faculty and alumni records, the data capture process is happening, but the methods by which the data is captured and stored are still disjointed. Is your institution prepared with software that keeps you running smoothly?
But how do you centralize your data while making sense of it all?
Whether you are trying to capture data to manage and collect student’s applications, improve advising services, or track class attendance rates to monitor classes’ success – you need to know what’s working. And what’s not. More than that, you need to know when it’s working and why it’s working. That means you need to connect the dots
But first, you must centralize your data. It will enable you to:
1) Personalize communications to prospective students
Students share a lot of personal information and expect personalized experiences across all student life cycle areas – in return. It makes them feel their college cares about them, and they are a name, not just a number.
2) Monitor student engagement and get students to the finish line
There are many reasons a student may become disengaged and drop out of university – financial concerns, academic difficulties, or conflicting priorities, e.g., school/life balance.
Universities often have the solutions to help students with these challenges but have trouble communicating those resources to students. And many students are too embarrassed to reach out or may not even know how to ask for help. When your institution can seamlessly share data across departments, you’re able to keep an eye on the students at risk and reach out to help when they need it most.
3) Connect with Alumni
Alumni can be a massive value for higher ed institutions because of the time and money they have already invested. Connecting current students with alumni based on the data you have captured, where they live, what student organizations they were involved in, or their choice in major can help students instantly connect to alum when asking for donations.
All of these factors optimize results for increasing recruiting, retention, engagement, and alumni loyalty. But what does this look like in practice?
Make data-driven decisions that make a difference for every student.
Courtney Chastine from SHSU covers interdepartmental communication better than we ever could. Have a listen!👇
We know breaking down data silos between departments is not easy, but making data-informed decisions is the key to every student’s success.
When asked how St Andrews overcame this barrier and pointed to personal relationships:
SHSU encourages you to just get others involved:
Collecting data is crucial to every student’s success, but we must understand that faculty members have limited resources and time. This is why Gecko developed cutting-edge technology to help every student thrive.
Having the right tools to collect, analyze, and report data is essential. However, the key is establishing the critical process of sharing data throughout the institution and across the student lifecycle stages. One of the best ways to connect the dots is with Gecko. We centralize your data, string it together, and our AI-powered chatbots and data-sharing solutions can be used to help your students when they need it.
Your students deserve improved outcomes. Get started today!
