

Research and Advisory Services
Proprietary research, analysis, and advising services to support decision-making throughout the student lifecycle.

Thought Leadership Webinars
Every Month…and Then Some
Want to find out what our latest research is revealing? How about the insights our principal research analysts are uncovering for their research reports? Or what about an innovative approach another institution tried and is willing to share? Then don’t miss out on a single webinar. Click the link to see what’s coming up!
Actionable Research That Supports Better Decision-Making
Eduventures® for Higher Education Leaders provides primary research, analysis, and advisory services to support decision-making throughout the student life cycle. Building on 20 years of success in working with education leaders, Eduventures forward-looking and actionable research is based on proprietary market data and advisory services that support clients at both strategic and operational levels. Our recommendations and personalized support enable clients to understand the top traits of leaders in critical disciplines and evaluate the opportunities presented by new technologies.
Coverage Areas
Higher education leaders face myriad challenges that affect multiple departments within the institution. To be successful, leaders must take a holistic approach to problem solving. Eduventures’ comprehensive data and research, combined with personalized advisory sessions, provide a deep understanding of the higher education landscape and promote an integrated approach to client support.
Traditional Student Demand
Analyzing the evolving challenge of recruiting traditional students
Colleges and universities that serve traditional-aged students as an important part of their enrollment portfolios must keep abreast of this market’s dreams, desires, and evolving expectations. While the age and stage of 18-year-olds fresh out of high school may appear relatively stable—especially compared to adult learners—we know that this market is constantly changing. Changing demographics, changing generational themes, and the changing value construct of higher education are all very much in play. The fundamental mistake that most colleges and universities make is thinking that the traditional student market is homogeneous by nature. Rather, institutions that investigate their students’ potential pathways through college will be most successful in building their brands and values.
How We Help
Partners in Eduventures Research & Advisory Services benefit from our latest insights into the traditional student market demand, competition, and innovation. Our data, research, and analysis are designed to support decision makers by providing deeper insights into what motivates prospective traditional students. Additionally, our deep understanding of technology offerings can help you to capitalize on opportunities and drive success. We help you:
- Recruit the right students by identifying target student mindsets and profiles.
- Improve retention and student success by developing a customized communication strategy that speaks to targeted candidates.
- Achieve operational success through the implementation of technology solutions.
- Map and integrate enrollment goals to institutional success.
Eduventures provides sophisticated market research that illuminates the traditional student market with a level of insight that allows institutions to not only recruit traditional students effectively, but also to build student experiences that resonate.
Recent and Upcoming Research
- High Sticker Price – Is the Effect Real or Imagined?
- Qualifying Prospects – Defining a Personalized Recruitment Strategy that Resonates
- Enrollment Management Top Traits – Looking to the Next Generation of Leadership
- Financial Aid Technology Deep Dive
- 2018 Prospective Student Research Survey™
- 2018 Admitted Students Research Survey™
Who We Serve
We continue to build an extensive library of research focused on issues and innovations in enrollment management of both traditional and nontraditional students. This research is relevant to:
- Vice presidents of enrollment management
- Marketing leaders, admissions leaders
- Academic leaders focused on student success initiatives
Adult Learner Demand
Meeting the Needs of Today’s Adult Learner
Providing career-relevant and high-value education that addresses the constantly shifting demands of the workplace.
The explosion in adult enrollments boomed in the 1990s and peaked in 2011. We have seen a marked decline since then. While some decline is expected, the adult higher education value proposition has come into question. But change is coming. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, undergraduate students who enrolled at age 25 or older have a 50 percent chance of completing a degree or other credential within six years, and the ratio is below 30 percent for part-time and mixed-mode adult students.
Recent years have also seen notable growth in degree alternatives, such as boot camps and paid MOOCs, that speak directly to what the typical adult learner wants: a career-relevant, flexible, and high-value education. Many of these providers are staking their reputations on getting jobs for their graduates—even promoting money-back guarantees—and the federal government is considering whether to open student aid to some of these nontraditional providers.
All this makes for a challenging environment for colleges and universities committed to the adult learner. The fact that many more schools are now upping recruitment of adult enrollments, seeking to offset demographic decline in traditional-age students in many parts of the country, means more colleges are chasing fewer adult prospects.
How We Help
Partners in Eduventures Research & Advisory Services benefit from our latest insights on adult demand, competition, and innovation. We help you:
- Assess your academic portfolio and new program ideas.
- Recruit and retain the right students.
- Create a differentiated in-person, blended, or online experience.
- Build sustainable operations and evaluate external partnerships.
- Create a technology road map for the life cycle of an adult student.
Recent and Upcoming Research
- Adult Learners – What They Want and Where Schools Are Missing the Mark
- OPM Market Overview – Size, Segmentation, Dynamics, and Growth
- Enrollment Trends – Mapping Areas of Growth and Decline for Schools of Education
- Key Insights from the Graduate Admitted Students Research Survey for School of Education
- Quality Matters Partnership Survey
- 2018 Adult Prospect Research Survey™
- Deconstructing CBE: Portraits in Implementation
- Online Program Management Market Analysis 2016
Who We Serve
Eduventures continues to build its extensive library of research focused on issues and innovations in enrollment management of both traditional and adult learners. This research is relevant to:
- Provosts and other academic leaders
- Vice presidents and directors of adult, online, and continuing education programs
- IT leaders responsible for selecting and implementing supporting technologies
Student Success
Rethinking the cause and effect of student success
The imperative to improve student success metrics has never been stronger or more visible, and higher education institutions of all kinds are feeling the pressure to deliver. In an era when students and families take on an ever-increasing share of the cost of higher education, having a poor record of student success is fast becoming a brand killer. With an abundance of choices, why should students consider paying tuition at a college or university that is unable to deliver on the core mission of higher education?
Improving student success is not a simple task. It requires stakeholders from across campus to come together to develop a sound institutional strategy, plans for execution, systems of accountability, and the right mix of data and technology to make it all work. Knowing which institutions are making significant gains and how they do it is a critical place to start, as is understanding of the technology tools that can accelerate your efforts to improve.
How We Help
Eduventures’ data, research, and analysis are designed to support decision makers in evaluating innovations that enable institution-wide student success programs. From data analytics platform selection to best practices research, we can help identify strategies that support, retain, and graduate both traditional and nontraditional students. Additionally, our deep understanding of technology offerings can help you capitalize on opportunities and drive success.
Our research services can guide critical decision-making about student success, technology adoption, and student enrollment management efforts. We help you:
- Evaluate your institution’s record on student success relative to peers.
- Identify proven student success strategies that will work at your institution.
- Understand innovative strategies like competency-based education (CBE).
- Consider new approaches to student success.
- Strengthen recruitment strategy.
- Develop an effective technology and solution provider road map.
- Support the technology vendor system selection and contract negotiation process.
Recent and Upcoming Research
- Improving Student Success – Is Your Institution Really Ready?
- Student Outcomes – Five Key Steps Toward Improvement
- LMS Deep Dive – An Overview of Learning Management Systems
- Retention Solutions – Six Cases of Integration
- How Institutions Improve Student Success: Case Studies of Top Performers
- Eduventures Outcomes Report
- 2017 Student Success Ratings
Who We Serve
Expanding college access, affordability, and student success are the issues facing every institution.
We help higher education leaders make the best-informed decisions on setting strategy, ensuring the financial sustainability of the institution, and making sound technology investments that accelerate student success and further the mission of the institution. Our research is relevant to:
- Presidents
- Provosts
- Institutional leadership teams
Program Innovation
Encouraging idea generation for new program viability
As the economic and career landscape evolves, it is more critical than ever to ensure that academic program portfolios keep pace with demand—while also maintaining a commitment to each institution’s unique mission and goals. The pressure to both recruit and retain students challenges schools to put in place innovative approaches to teaching and learning and the right mix of programs to prepare graduates with new skills, a broad knowledge base, and a range of competencies to enter a more complex and interdependent world. All of these efforts must begin with a quantifiable means to evaluate both existing and new program offerings.
How We Help
With the deepest experience in the industry, the Eduventures approach to academic program feasibility, prioritization, and innovation draws on a variety of data sources, including Eduventures’ proprietary data, labor forecasts, conferral data, competitive intelligence, and internal performance data. Whether you are looking to add new programs, prioritize existing ones, or evaluate innovation delivery methods, we can provide you with the hard data combined with deep expertise about how programs are likely to be received in the market, how they will be impacted by the competitive landscape, and how they should be positioned.
By becoming a member of Eduventures for Higher Education Leaders, we can help you with the following initiatives:
- Assess your academic program portfolio and determine necessary next steps in eliminating and/or adding disciplines.
- Recruit and retain the right students.
- Create a differentiated online and classroom experience.
- Deep dive into a single program area to assess its viability.
- Get the data you need to obtain buy-in from faculty and other stakeholders.
- Learn the right steps to launch a new program.
- Tap into deep analyst industry expertise to inform your program strategy.
Recent and Upcoming Research
- Deconstructing CBE: An Assessment of Institutional Activity, Goals, and Challenges
- Adult Learners – New Insights into Alternative Credentials and Emergent Innovations
- Trends in Alternative Teacher Preparation
- Alternative Credentials – Supplement for Schools of Education
- Academic Program Market Update
- Deconstructing CBE: Portraits of Implementation Success
- Implementing CBE: Choose the Right Technology
Who We Serve
Eduventures continues to build its extensive library of research focused on issues and innovations in program innovation. This research is relevant to:
- Provosts and other academic leaders
- Vice presidents and directors of online and continuing education programs
- IT leaders responsible for selecting and implementing supporting technologies
Technology Research
Drive a new generation of students with increased expectations and experiences
New entrants into the market, maturing standards, and increasing demand for interoperability are changing the technology landscape for higher education. With an over $25B spend on products and services annually, higher education leaders are using technology to support faculty and administrators; effectively market, recruit, and enroll students, and create new methods of instruction to deliver innovative programs.
Unique dynamics and successful strategies require a partner that understands established and emerging technology platforms, tools, and services. With hundreds of edtech offerings on the market, it is essential to get the right mix to meet the needs of your institution.
How We Help
Eduventures’ data, research, and analysis is designed to support decision-makers as they evaluate innovations in technology adoption by delivering deeper insights into what strategies and methods lead to successful selection and implementation. Our deep understanding of the technology landscape can help you capitalize on opportunities and drive success for every part of the institution.
We can help you with the following initiatives:
- Create a blueprint to navigate the technology landscape throughout the student life cycle.
- Better understand vendor ratings, best practices, and ROI studies in important markets like competency-based education tools, learning management systems, and online program management solutions.
- Analyze emerging, disruptive technology markets within higher education.
- Assess the current technology landscape that covers both mission-based tools and enterprise-wide platform offerings at a strategic level.
Education Technology Coverage Areas
- Social recruitment
- E-portfolio solutions
- Constituent relationship management (CRM)
- Financial aid solutions
- Competency-based education (CBE)
- Student retention
- Online program management (OPM)
- Analytics solutions
- Integrity solutions
- Student information systems (SIS)
Who We Serve
Eduventures continues to build its extensive library of research, focused on issues and innovations in the changing education technology sector. This research is relevant to:
- Provosts and other academic leaders
- CIOs and technology teams
- Functional area leaders responsible for selecting and implementing supporting technologies
For Technology Vendors
Technology Vendors interested in briefing Eduventures on your higher ed products and services, please click here.
Wake-Up Call
The Wake-Up Call is a weekly analysis of higher ed news, survey data, industry events, and insider perspectives – delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning.

How to Reach Out-of-State Prospects
Attracting out-of-state prospects is a difficult but critical endeavor, particularly in today’s world. Student demographics are expected to plummet in two years’ time and questions about the value of higher education continue to grow louder.
Advisory Services
Dedicated Research Analyst
When you sign up with Eduventures, you will be assigned a dedicated client research analyst who ensures that your organization sees tangible results from your Eduventures membership. This analyst will work with you to onboard your team, match our resources to your needs, and perform research to support your day-to-day questions. As needed, your client research analyst will connect you with other members of our research analyst team to provide further strategic guidance on critical issues.
Research Analyst Engagement
Foundational to Eduventures is access to our senior and principal research analysts. Working alongside client research analysts, these experts help you address specific challenges facing your institution through ongoing advising around key areas of focus. Our thought leaders connect Eduventures’ data and research to your initiatives and provide insight that leads to more confident decision making.
Support
Leveraging our research foundation, Eduventures’ analysts work with clients to help them:
- Understand innovative strategies like competency-based education
- Strengthen recruitment strategy
- Consider new approaches to student success
- Improve leadership gift officer productivity
- Develop an effective technology and solution provider road map
- Support the technology vendor system selection and contract negotiation process
Expert Research Analysts
Former higher education practitioners themselves, our research analysts will provide expertise and guidance based on our research and survey data, as well as direct experience working with institutions of all sizes. Our team connects you to the best ideas in the industry and empowers you with the tools and knowledge for strategic growth.
Learn more about our analysts here.
Eduventures Searchable Research Library
Eduventures Insights
These shorter reports tackle more specialized topics or offer an opportunity to comment on a trending issue, capture good practice or synthesize secondary data. Eduventures Insights offer our clients key takeaways and informative visuals. Examples include:
- Deconstructing CBE- portraits of institutional practice
- Student Success Top Performers
In-Depth Reports
In-depth reports are deep dives on a major topic, such as student demand, program innovation and student success, clarifying the latest trends and surfacing new insights. Many reports showcase one of Eduventures’ proprietary surveys, and are a careful balance between text and graphics ensuring an easy-to-read, digestible format. Examples include:
- Prospective Student Research™ Report
- Admitted Student Research™ Report
- Adult Prospect Research™ Report
- Analytics Market Overview
Program Feasibility Series
Over more than a decade, Eduventures has conducted hundreds of program feasibility studies, examining prospects for both new and existing programs for colleges and universities of all types. These studies span undergraduate, graduate, and noncredit programming, and a wide array of fields of study. Many studies – suitably anonymized – are archived for the benefit of all clients. Examples include:
- Market Snapshots
- Competitive Analysis

Empowering students and institutions to create meaningful connections.
For nearly 50 years, Encoura (formerly ACT | NRCCUA) has been a leading provider of data science, research, strategic enrollment and marketing services to over 2,000 member institutions across the nation.