Why IPaaS is key to gaining insights in higher education

Higher education is entering a new era of data-driven insights, which promise to elevate both learner experience and institutional performance. The HE colleges and universities capable of collecting and leveraging data in a timely manner will not only boost student outcomes but also run their back-office operations in a significantly more effective and cost-efficient way – says Alex Pearce, Chief Technologist for Education at Softcat.  

Integration Platform as a Service (IPaaS) and middleware solutions are the key to making sense of institutions’ complex mix of new and legacy systems, enabling them to create a powerful single-view of their data. With the help of IPaaS, colleges and universities are able to leverage exciting new technologies and use cases already revolutionising sectors such as finance, healthcare and retail. Here are the top five data-driven trends that HE institutions will be able to tap into with the help of IPaaS. 

Personalised learning experiences 

With IPaaS unlocking access to granular student data, institutions will be able to tailor their offering to the individual, guiding them towards success. They will also be able to build and leverage a unified data dashboard showing student and faculty key metrics, such as attendance levels, grades, resource usage etc. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can then be used to generate predictive analytics insights, nudging students towards beneficial behaviors.   

Smart buildings and campuses 

IPaaS can play a key role collating building data and creating a real-estate dashboard ensuring buildings are used as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible. These insights can ensure heating, energy use and occupancy levels are optimised – something that’s particularly important during the energy crisis, when energy prices are spiraling.  

Real-estate data can also be used alongside machine learning to foresee building issues and trigger predictive maintenance, fixing problems before they impact building availability. 

Next-generation remote learning 

The pandemic vividly highlighted the value of remote learning for HE institutions. And now, with society largely reopened, online teaching and meeting platforms continue to help to overcome physical distances. Thanks to IPaaS institutions can continue to extend their reach, connecting with students, speakers and networks locally, nationally, and internationally, making UK HE easily accessible globally. 

Student welfare 

Mental health is an increasingly important facet of HE, with institutions falling short at risk of putting their students at risk and suffering reputational damage as a result. IPaaS is the data link which can enable machine learning to spot worrying patterns in student behaviour and flag it to faculty in real time. 

Talent spotting  

IPaaS solutions can be used to create a holistic summary of student performance. When teamed with predictive analytics this approach can help faculty identify – in an objective manner – which students are best suited to further study. By surfacing granular data around student performance and behaviour, institutions are more likely to identify the candidates most likely to succeed.  

Conclusion 

With competition between HE institutions for budget and talent at an all-time high it has never been more important for schools, colleges and universities to find new, personalised ways to engage with students, streamline their operations and respond rapidly to new challenges and opportunities.  

Leading institutions now realise that fragmented technology is one of the biggest barriers to achieving their strategic goals. As a result, they are increasingly looking to best-in-class IPaaS data integration and automation platforms to help them leverage data from their legacy systems so they can evolve. Institutions that fail to harness the power of IPaaS face being left behind. 

For more information please download the following whitepaper: How higher-education institutions can reap the data dividend thanks to IPaaS