With 2020 underway, it’s important for institutions to align IT strategies align with overall objectives, embrace new methodologies, standardize processes, and take a stronger security stance.

How to Get the Most Out of IT Projects in 2020

Strategic alignment with objectives, new leadership tactics, standardization, and increased risk management can help higher education institutions capitalize on their 2020 IT strategies. With the expectation that higher education institutions will increase IT spend significantly over the next several years, the success of those IT initiatives will rely on several factors.

Several technology trends will emerge or accelerate in 2020, including cloud, analytics, AI, blockchain and more.

Higher Education Technology Trends to Watch in 2020

Technology can act as a catalyst to help higher education institutions succeed despite facing increasingly complex challenges, including shrinking budgets and growing competition. As 2020 kicks into gear, let’s look at a few technology trends that might shape the year for higher education.

Students have more choices when pursuing a higher education today, thanks to competency-based education (CBE) and other emerging learning opportunities

Alternative Credentials in the Academic Journey

The recent surge of alternative educational credentials is another example of the academic landscape’s evolution. Fueled by shifting student demographics, technological advancements, and the push for lifelong learning, alternative credential packages offer students the opportunity to pursue credits or degrees outside of the traditional college credit system. Online degrees, tech skills boot camps, digital badges, competency-based education (CBE), and micro degrees are all gaining credibility with students, educators, and hiring managers.

Higher education is on the brink of change thanks to the growth of eLearning, experiential learning, immersive learning, and other technology-driven transformations.

Three Higher Education Learning Trends for 2020

Students today want more personalized, connected methods for how, what, when, and where they learn. As a result, higher education intuitions are creating more student-centric experiences and extending their reach beyond the traditional classroom to create experiences that cultivate skills needed for the workforce.
While there are many changes in the learning landscape, there are three standout changes that may make significant headway in 2020: <a href="https://jenzabar.com/product/elearning" rel=" noopener">eLearning</a>, experiential learning, and immersive learning.

Higher education institutions shouldn’t fear a compliance audit if they take the proper precautions and prepare.

Preparing for the Compliance Audit

The number one rule when preparing for an audit is to not wait until the last minute to start. Institutions should lay the groundwork for the audit throughout the year by reviewing the list provided by the auditors which outlines all the things that should be prepared. By keeping the list and revisiting it monthly, schools can gather the information over time instead of scrambling for it at the end of the year.

While the financial aid audit can be intimidating, institutions should be aware that not all of the myths surrounding the process are true.

Debunking Financial Aid Audit Myths

There are a lot of myths associated with the <a href="https://jenzabar.com/resource/webinar-audits-reporting-compliance" rel=" noopener">financial aid audit process</a> in higher education. While some of these concerns are legitimate, many of them are not nearly as harmful as they appear. Let’s look at some of the popular financial aid audit myths.

Higher education institutions are evolving their student information systems to adhere to evolving student expectations and needs.

Student-Centric Trends in Student Information Systems

The monumental shift in how students pursue higher education has driven <a href="https://jenzabar.com/solution-service/student-information-systems" rel=" noopener">changes in the student information systems</a> (SIS) that institutions use to manage student data and experiences. Students today are looking for more personalized, connected methods for how, what, when, and where they learn; they want responsive and communicative administration. Individuals want institutions to be mobile-ready, tech-savvy, and prepared to deliver a high-quality learning experience

Going into 2020, higher education institutions are placing a greater emphasis on data security and protection in their IT strategies.

Survey: Security is Top of Mind in Higher Education

The rapidly changing higher education IT landscape has pushed data security to be the top priority for campuses. This finding comes from the Campus Computing Project’s <a href="https://www.campuscomputing.net/content/2019/10/15/the-2019-campus-computing-survey" rel="noopener" target="_blank">2019 National Survey of eLearning and Information Technology in US Higher Education</a>, which polled 235 U.S. higher education institutions. IT data security was ranked as the top priority by 83 percent of survey respondents, with only 34 percent of respondents rating their IT security as “excellent.”

Higher education enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are changing thanks to the unification with student information systems and the evolution of the cloud.

Four New Higher Ed ERP Trends

Higher education is in a new era of cost-cutting and institutions are reviewing internal processes as well as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for ways to enable more efficient operations. ERP systems, which form the operational backbone of higher education institutions, are transforming to reduce costs and optimize processes using automation, analytics, and more. Looking forward, ongoing changes in the ERP market may set the pace for driving innovation and reducing costs in higher ed.
Higher education ERP systems continue to evolve, pushing growth in the industry. According to Global Market Insights, the education <a href="https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/education-enterprise-resource-planning-erp-market" rel="noopener" target="_blank">ERP market is expected to value roughly $15 billion by 2024.</a>

Research firm Ovum notes that Jenzabar Analytics gives higher education institutions the tools to support new student expectations and changing operational needs.

Ovum: Jenzabar Analytics Helps Schools Address the New Student

In a report by Ovum, market-leading research and consulting firm, Higher Education Research Analyst Joyce Kim notes that Jenzabar Analytics has the tools that can help higher education institutions address <a href="https://jenzabar.com/resource/industry-insights-jenzabar-analytics-supports-the-new-student" rel=" noopener">the needs of the non-traditional, “new student.”</a> Today, higher ed students come from a variety of backgrounds, comprise different age groups, and have different demands than individuals in the past. Without the right digital technologies and capabilities in place, higher education institutions will struggle to hit enrollment and retention goals.

Analyzing data on donor capacity and affinity can help higher education institutions improve the outcomes of fundraising initiatives.

Multiply Fundraising Success by Using Data Analytics

Data-driven analytics can be leveraged across higher education to improve institutional <a href="https://www.jenzabar.com/blog/institutions-should-use-analytics-to-monitor-and-improve-financial-health-and-success" rel=" noopener">financial health</a>, increase <a href="https://www.jenzabar.com/blog/four-ways-analytics-can-drive-student-success-in-higher-ed" rel=" noopener">student success</a>, and even drive fundraising. For the latter, analytics can help cultivate prospective donors like alumni, corporations, and philanthropists, and help maintain relationships with existing donors. With a growing pressure to increase fundraising goals, higher education institutions should consider incorporating analytics into their advancement and development initiatives.

Data analytics, student experience, digital transformation, and other topics are set to drive major industry discussions at EDUCAUSE 2019.

What Can You Expect to See at EDUCAUSE 2019?

Successfully navigating analytics, new student learning methodologies and experiences, digital transformation, enterprise IT, and cybersecurity will take center stage at EDUCAUSE 2019. Higher education is changing more rapidly than ever, and decision-makers must be confident in how they embrace new technology and processes if their institutions are to succeed. So, what can organizations expect to see at this year’s EDUCAUSE that will help them prepare for the future?

Building a strategy and understanding buzzwords can mitigate higher education’s challenges with data analytics.

Analytics 101 for Educators and Administrators

Data is everywhere these days, and there is a clear financial opportunity to turn complex information into actionable insights. Allied Market Research forecasts that insights from <a href="https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/data-monetization-market" rel="noopener" target="_blank">data will likely produce more than $100 billion in revenue</a> worldwide by 2023. Colleges and universities need to consider how they can join this data economy, as fully harnessing their massive volumes of data can help schools address some of their biggest challenges, including student recruitment and retention, student engagement, curriculum optimization, university reputation, and overall costs. But before higher education institutions <a href="https://jenzabar.com/blog/four-ways-analytics-can-drive-student-success-in-higher-ed" rel=" noopener">kick off complex data analytics programs</a>, they need to take the time to establish a strategy and follow industry best practices.

Higher education institutions can leverage analytics to measure academic program contributions and their overall financial health via composite financial index scores.

Institutions Should Use Analytics to Monitor and Improve Financial Health and Success

Data-driven decision-making is critical to achieving institutional success in higher education. In a previous blog, we talked about how <a href="https://www.jenzabar.com/blog/four-ways-analytics-can-drive-student-success-in-higher-ed" rel=" noopener">analytics can help institutions attract the right-fit students</a> and keep students on the path to graduation. In this post, we discuss measuring an organization’s financial health via understanding academic program contributions and using financial analytics. &nbsp;

Higher education institutions require unified student information systems in order to give their students seamless access to information and frictionless experiences.

Building the Case for a Unified Student Information System

Higher education institutions require <a href="https://jenzabar.com/solution-service/student-information-systems" rel=" noopener">unified student information systems</a> in order to give their students seamless access to information and frictionless experiences. Disconnected silos of information across campus make it impossible for institutions to be truly student-centric.

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How to Get the Most Out of IT Projects in 2020

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