Services

We conduct and advise on strategic planning exercises in higher education at the unit, faculty, institutional and – occasionally – provincial and national levels. Through a combination of multiple-channel stakeholder engagement, environmental scanning, and a keen sense of the latest developments in higher education, HESA can provide your organization with the best possible strategic advice, always tailored to the unique nature of clients in the higher education sector. We also advise institutions on issues of governance and how to improve fast but collegial decision-making.

We help institutions develop new academic programs and refresh old ones. Through a combination of labour market analysis, competitor benchmarking, and examination of the latest innovations in program design and pedagogical approaches, we can offer options for new programs with significant enrolment appeal and unique value propositions. Also, for organizations interested in starting new institutions in British Columbia or Ontario, HESA offers tailored support to bring your institutions and programs through the regulatory process to approval.

We help institutions identify and solve problems in their day-to-day business both big and small. From streamlining credit transfer and registrarial operations to improving work-integrated learning programs to developing strategies for external engagement, HESA analyses institutional practices and with the help of benchmarking and best-practice research, recommends solutions to make institutions more efficient, responsive and data-driven. We also assist in the development of institution-wide policies in areas such as research management and equity, diversity and inclusion.

We are serious about measuring and improving impact. Disappointed with the standard algorithmic analyses of impact, which amounts mostly to just exercises in competitive counting, we go beyond abstract numbers and look for the real institutional contributions to growth and flourishing.  Our specialty is in measuring and describing the real ways in which institutions help their communities to offer broader opportunity and to be more knowledge-intensive and prosperous, both through the development of talented graduates and the transfer of ideas.

We help institutions to identify new markets for student recruitment and provide students with the services they need when they arrive. We also assist institutions in aligning recruitment goals with larger institutional goals, particularly with respect to research. With our unparalleled knowledge of global developments in higher education, both in “sending” and “destination” countries, we can give your institution an edge in becoming a more attractive and thriving global destination.

We provide third-party program evaluation services to institutions and governments interested in measuring the effects of specific programs related to higher education, innovation and skills development. Our experience ranges from mid-term and final reports on cross-national World Bank projects, to provincial workforce development programs. If you need evidence on effectiveness for donors/funders past or future, or if you need to know whether an initiative needs an overhaul, we can help.

We assist clients by developing wide-ranging reports addressing broad policy goals, using our un-equalled command of Canadian and international higher education statistics and our contextualized knowledge of sector-level policy developments. Whether you are a government looking for assistance in developing system-wide policies or evaluations, or an institutional coalition looking for new policy directions, we would be pleased to put our knowledge and talent at your disposal.