University of Nebraska
Growing Enrollment Through Programs and Pricing.
Market Research
BACKGROUND
A Flagship Research and Land-Grant University
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is the flagship research and land-grant university of Nebraska offering hundreds of academic programs serving the diverse needs of the state. We have worked with UNL on several projects related to driving enrollment at the University, through both academic programs and pricing strategy.
CHALLENGE AND CHARGE
Exploring an Unprecedented New Program
Our first project with UNL was research to explore the viability of new bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in Emerging New Media. This new field sits at the intersection of a rapidly changing digital media landscape, augmented reality, art, journalism, computer science, and several other fields. The challenge was figuring out how to assess the market for a program that was entirely new. As Henry Ford famously said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” So, how could we assess demand for a program that didn’t exist?
DATA COLLECTION AND INTERPRETATION
Understanding the Opportunities and Risks
Market Analysis
Academic Program Demand
Competitor Analysis
To research this nascent field, we conducted a literature review of relevant research on the topic to explore the social, economic, political, and technological forces impacting new media. We assessed enrollment trends in related programs, especially among universities similar to UNL.
We also provided a deep analysis of labor market demand for professionals in the new media space, including their occupations, job titles, employers, salaries, and required skills. All of this work affirmed UNL’s decision to pursue the Emerging New Media program at both degree levels, which have been very successful.
We have followed a similar research process for other new academic programs at UNL, including programs in Statistics and Data Science.
Our largest program-related research for UNL involved assessing all degree programs at the University for their viability as online offerings. This was a large undertaking as UNL offers more than 300 degree programs at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and doctoral levels. We collected data across the entire higher education landscape as well as for flagship research universities and institutions located in neighboring states to show demand for online options in each of UNL’s program areas. Combined, the extensive research informed program decisions at the University and showed which areas were viable—and demanded—as online offerings.
OUTCOME
Successful New Program
Our work with UNL has informed the University’s existing and new programs, resulting in a data-based understanding of the market opportunity, competition, and program nuances that lead to successful offerings. The new programs we researched have been successful in meeting or exceeding their enrollment goals. And as a testament to the success of our research, UNL has continued to ask for our assistance in researching program opportunities, forming a strong partnership over the last several years.