THE’s Consultancy team work closely with industry and commercial organisations to provide insights and tailored thought leadership on a topical basis to support with market awareness, sector engagement, reputation and to help in forging strategic partnerships. Our expert team are adept at analysing datasets of all types and sizes, as well as conducting market research with key stakeholders across the sector, to offer wide-ranging perspectives on the most important questions in higher education.

Whether your organisation aims to better understand the sector for your own internal planning or seeks to produce external-facing thought leadership material, THE’s Consultancy team can offer services to provide information, intelligence, and practical advice to power your positioning in the market.

Market research and industry insights

With an ever-increasing number of products and services being tailored to meet the needs of the whirlwind changes blowing through the HE sector, businesses need up-to-date information to inform their decisions and plans. Being able to draw on THE’s unique and vast proprietary datasets enables us to provide valuable insights about universities around the world. This can also be supplemented with the many open-source datasets available, as well as access to multiple bibliometric resources including Elsevier’s Scopus database.

All these data sources can be harnessed alongside market research techniques to produce intelligence that no other HE consultancy can offer. The depth of our ties in the sector provides access to staff in universities, and THE’s Global Student Research Panel offers unparalleled access to students around the world. This expertise and wealth of knowledge feeds into research-informed insights that enable organisations offering their services to the HE sector to hone their products and target their efforts precisely.

Whether an organisation needs to better understand the landscape, market test their products and services or canvass opinion about their plans, THE’s Consultancy team are on hand to help.

Thought Leadership

For organisations looking to create a name for themselves as thought leaders in higher education globally, or in specific regions, the THE Consultancy team offer their research expertise to draw on data sources and market research techniques to create fresh insights for the sector. THE Consultancy has delivered projects for organisations looking to produce thought leadership pieces about topics as diverse as the role of AI-driven personalisation of learning, how research and technology hubs have driven the UK’s status as a science superpower and understanding digital literacy.

For organisations that wish to produce content and thought leadership for marketing purposes, for discussion at events or to drive sector engagement, THE Consultancy can offer bespoke research briefings that shed light on the most pressing questions. With unparalleled access to the academic, senior leadership and student communities, THE Consultancy can harness their expertise in conducting market research to generate fresh insights into the HE sector and unique thought leadership articles.

THE can also assist in driving traffic to these thought leadership pieces, and the experience of our Events team can be drawn on to organise events that get the findings out there. Previous clients have been delighted with the outcomes of these thought leadership exercises, which have cemented their position firmly within the zeitgeist of the HE sector’s discussions.

Previous clients:

Below is an example of two papers our team published in collaboration with our client sponsor:

Digital Literacy in the UK

Summary: Employer perspectives and the role of Higher Education

Our analysis of the current state of digital literacy across the UK highlights two things. Firstly, the importance placed on digital literacy by UK employers. Agnostic to sector, employers already recognise how vital digital literacy is to the productivity and progression of their organisations. Secondly, that there is a lot more in the UK that needs to be done. Universities must be at the centre of this national movement to create the next generation of highly skilled, adaptable, innovative, and digitally literate graduates entering the workforce.

Download now: Digital Literacy in the UK - THE Consultancy Report

University Industry Collaboration

Summary: The vital role of tech companies' support for Higher Education research

The crucial role that the world’s universities play in our economies and societies has never been so starkly illustrated as it has been by the covid-19 pandemic. Our institutions of higher learning and research produce the healthcare workers at the front-line in the fight against the virus; they provide the data, analysis and evidence-based expertise that is shaping effective public policy and driving the world’s response; and our great universities are developing the clinical interventions, tests and ultimately the vaccines that will secure our collective future.

Download now: University industry collaboration - THE Consultancy Report