Introduction: A subtle change with big implications The 2025 Higher Education Students Early Statistics (HESES 25) return introduces a major shift in how subjects are reported for funding purposes. While the mechanics might look straightforward, moving from broad price groups to 58 detailed subject groupings, the implications for funding, planning, and internal reporting are far-reaching….
Fourth in the “Tools for Data Governance” series. So far in this series, we’ve explored data dictionaries (the technical foundation) and business glossaries (the shared language that gives data meaning). Together, they bring clarity and consistency to how data is defined and understood. But as institutions grow and data becomes more distributed, the challenge shifts…
Third in the “Tools for Data Governance” series. In the first two posts in this series, we explored data dictionaries – what they are and how they’re used in practice. Data dictionaries provide the technical backbone of data governance, detailing where data lives, what it looks like, and how it behaves. But technical definitions alone…
Second in the “Tools for Data Governance” series. In our first post, we explored what a data dictionary is and how it fits within a wider data governance framework. This time, we turn to the practical side, how data dictionaries are used, and the tangible benefits they bring to complex organisations such as universities. A…
First in the “Tools for Data Governance” series. When people talk about “data governance tools,” they often jump straight to data catalogues or enterprise-wide platforms. But before those came along, there was the humble data dictionary, the quiet workhorse that keeps organisations speaking the same data language. What Is a Data Dictionary? A data dictionary…
There’s a lot of talk about how AI will transform higher education. From predictive analytics and chatbots to course planning and workload models, the possibilities seem endless. But in all the excitement, it’s easy to forget one uncomfortable truth: AI is only as smart as the data we give it. Most of the datasets we…
When you’re used to working with numbers, patterns, and statistical models, qualitative data can feel a bit slippery. How do you take hundreds of open-text survey responses, interview transcripts, or notes from workshops and turn them into something structured? That’s where inductive coding comes in. What is inductive coding? Inductive coding is a way of…
Ever thought about what a university would look like if it were one big human being? No, not a toga-wearing philosopher, but an actual person with all the quirks and contradictions we know and love. Here’s my take. The quality team? They’re the conscience. The little voice saying, “Are you sure that’s up to standard?”…
GPT-5 vs Previous Models – Performance & Capabilities OpenAI describes GPT-5 as “a significant leap in intelligence” over GPT-4 and GPT-3.5, delivering state-of-the-art results across coding, math, writing, health, vision, and more. It’s faster and smarter than its predecessors, built with an auto-switching “thinking” mode that applies deeper reasoning on complex prompts while responding quickly to simple queries. Notably, GPT-5 was designed to…
For many of us, Microsoft Access was our first taste of building a database. It’s familiar, flexible, and still powering a surprising amount of reporting in higher education and beyond. But times change. As organisations adopt Microsoft 365, Dataverse is becoming the natural home for modern, secure, and scalable data solutions. So how do you…
