September 10, 2019 by Alex Doyle
As new technologies and increasingly sophisticated, high-skill jobs continue to emerge, pressure is increasing for higher education institutions to deliver workers prepared to thrive in this dynamic market.
In this environment, staying relevant and proving value means keeping programs up-to-date and aligned with market demand through frequent program review and development. But these are complex, multi-step processes, requiring intensive collaboration between multiple teams and departments on campus. From initial research to program launch, they involve market analysis, course planning, assembling appropriate team members, plotting the program timeline, developing a marketing strategy, and much, much more. To ensure that you don’t waste time planning a program with no market or that won’t be relevant in three years, it’s important to be precise as you analyze program demand and relevancy.
Having labor market data on the front end can provide key metrics to smooth out the initial steps of determining program alignment and identifying new opportunities. But, while most colleges and universities understand the importance of this data for informing program planning, it can be hard to know where to start.
When you begin program planning or updating existing programs, understanding the program and job market landscapes gives you vital insight into the needs of both markets. These insights include answers to questions like:
Having answers to these questions not only lets you create relevant, in-demand programs, it also allows you to get buy-in from high-level administration and stakeholders. So where can you find this data?
The Program Overview report in Analyst is a great place to start. The report lets you see program and related occupation data as you customize the search parameters. Then, once you’ve set the parameters exactly the way you want to get the necessary data, you can export the report.
The Program Overview report includes five key data points that are particularly important to note.
The report offers much more than just these five data points, but they’re an excellent place to start during program review and development.
Want a sample Program Overview report?