Analytics

UMBC Bolsters Data Analytics Efforts for Student Success

• By Rhea Kelly
• 09/14/16

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is increasing its investment in analytics to develop programs and policies to improve persistence, completion and graduation. By rolling out Civitas Learning's Student Success Platform and Illume flagship application, the university aims to "synthesize data from across the institution in order to develop a more complete picture of which efforts are working — and their impact on specific student populations," according to a press release.

UMBC has long used data to inform strategies and models for student success, said university officials, but was looking for better real-time information to help it take action to support student needs. "UMBC has a robust business intelligence system, and we have seen how data-driven insights can improve student outcomes. However, we realize that to move to the next level, we need more expertise in data science modeling to answer the most difficult questions regarding student success," said Jack Suess, vice president of information technology and chief information officer for the university, in a statement.

By integrating data from disparate systems on campus, Civitas' data modeling and visualizations will help the university answer questions such as what are the predictors of student progression, what courses are critical to ensuring graduation, which interventions work best with different students, etc. UMBC will use the findings to guide student outreach and develop future initiatives.

For more information on the Student Success Platform, visit the Civitas Learning site.