Universities

A growing number of teaching-led and research-intensive universities have discovered that Blueprint-designed management information systems can help them maintain the right balance between income and costs, and plan for the future more effectively.

With years of experience as a specialist management information consultancy, Blueprint understands how to adapt and customise information systems to meet the particular needs of universities.

Teaching-led universities use our systems to correlate present and projected student numbers with fee income. They can analyse the cost of courses in detail, relating costs to relevant income-streams in order to assess the viability of each individual course. They can keep track of changing patterns of student demand, analyse the composition of the student body, and look at the effect of changing the mix between international and UK students. Management information systems make long-term planning quicker and easier, and they facilitate integration, helping to break down departmental barriers and increase efficiency.

Blueprint’s information systems help Russell Group universities to improve forecasting of research income, manage research project and faculty budgets, and align their investment activities more closely with their strategic goals. Management information systems help them to analyse research funding patterns, predict income streams more accurately and plan staffing levels to suit future needs.

The priorities for our university customers usually include the following: 

1. Make-up of the student body: ‘Which countries and regions do our students come from? Which socio-economic and ethnic groups do they belong to? What happens to them after they qualify? Is debt an issue for particular groups?’
2. Admissions and student number planning: ‘Which categories of students should we target to satisfy our obligations to stakeholders and secure the university’s future? Where should we invest to support predicted patterns of student demand?’
3. Programme and module viability: ‘What are the true costs of each of our courses, taking into account inter-departmental staffing effects? Can we afford to sustain less popular courses that we believe contribute to our reputation?’
4. Income and expenditure management: ‘How can we predict future income streams more accurately? How can we ensure that information known to research project leaders is promptly incorporated into our forecasts?’
5. Workload modelling: ‘How can we align our teaching and research resources with current and future levels of student demand for each of our courses, taking into account tenured , contract and temporary staffing patterns?’
6. End-to-end strategic planning: ‘What are the implications of our strategic plan for future spending on property and staff? Which faculties will need to expand, and which will contract? Where should we invest in order to meet future patterns of demand?’
7. Research project analysis: ‘Currently, I receive one global figure for research income – but I want to break that figure down by department and individual. I’d like to be able to calculate bid success-rates for individuals, and see where the funding is coming from. I’d also like to know what research projects really cost us in terms of the university’s time and resources.’

Interested to know more? Contact Ben Griffiths on 020 7832 1855 or email bgriffiths@bpms.co.uk