Is New Zealand’s Higher Education Sector Ready to Employ Analytics Initiatives to Enhance its Decision-making Process?

Abstract

Interest in the use of analytics to support evidence-based decision-making in higher education is relatively a new phenomenon. The available research suggests that analytics can enhance an institution’s ability to make evidence-based informed decisions that foster growth and increased productivity. The present study explored how institutions of higher education in New Zealand value and utilise analytics to enhance the quality of decision-making. The study involved administering an online questionnaire (n = 82) to senior administrators from seven of the eight research-intensive public universities in New Zealand. Key findings revealed that the use of analytics in the higher education sector could enhance the quality of decision-making. Respondents reported that the use of analytics is likely to advance operational and strategic decisions by monitoring and efficiently optimising the use of resources. Respondents said that analytics provide better planning of issues about students (e.g. enrolment, retention, and completion rate). Furthermore, analytics can improve institutional research administration (e.g. performance outcomes in finance and human resources). Despite the stated benefits of analytics in enhancing decision-making in many operational and strategic areas, the study found that the use of analytics in the higher education sector in New Zealand is limited to monitoring operational activities, rather than improving the quality of learning, teaching and strategic initiatives. Further, the study identified several concerns regarding the ability of institutions to find the capacity and expertise to extract useful information from the available data sets and to turn such data into usable knowledge to support students and educators. Also, respondents were concerned that the lack of staff capacity and training to use analytics effectively could be detrimental. Others feared that analytics could be used as surveillance tools and enforce compliance and control. It was mentioned that over-reliance on analytics could easily lead to a breach of individuals’ and institutional privacy, which is a threat to information and data security. Also, there was a concern that analytics could be used to perpetuate inequity and inequality among and within institutions. Results of the study presented in this article serve as a baseline for future studies about the use of analytics in the higher education sector in New Zealand. Additionally, it contributes to the growing debate about the value and challenges of deploying analytics and Big Data in the higher education sector worldwide.