Services / Strategy
Beyond the rankings
Rankings are an imperfect measure of what a university does. They matter for visibility, and students and employers do pay attention to them, but they rarely tell you what to do next. This is the work that helps with that.
What we offer
Impact measurement frameworks
Show what your investment in people and institutions actually changed.
For university leaders, scholarship programmes, foundations and funded programmes. Many tell their impact through individual stories, and the standard academic measures are too narrow to show the rest. We design a theory of change, indicators, baselines and a reporting cycle, built wherever possible from data you already hold.
We often focus on the first fifteen years after graduation, when the effect of a programme is clearest. It is more honest to measure the direction people are heading than to wait decades for a destination. And we design the framework so you can run it yourselves from the second year.
A framework might look at
- Learning and academic development
- Careers, in academia, policy, the public sector and industry
- Network strength, often the most distinctive measure of all
- Wellbeing and personal development
- Diversity and inclusion
- Longer-term contribution to society
You get a theory of change, a results framework, a data-collection plan and templates for reporting to donors.
Thematic benchmarks
If it isn’t measured, it isn’t rewarded, so we’ll help you measure it.
For networks, NGOs and funders who want their own benchmark on an agenda the existing rankings miss, such as One Health or sustainability education. We design the indicators, the assessment, the governance and the data pipeline, whether the result is a published index or an internal peer benchmark.
You get an indicator framework, methodology documentation, a pilot assessment and a governance model.
Publications and journals review
Where to publish next, and what is gaining attention.
A five-year review of your output, citation quality and journal effectiveness by subject, with guidance on where to publish next and which topics are gaining international attention.
You get a diagnostic for each subject, on its own or with recommendations attached.
Partnership review
Which partnerships actually work.
Co-authorship tends to raise the quality of papers, and international co-authorship more so. We assess which of your partnerships and agreements actually lift your citation impact, and which partners with complementary strengths you should be talking to.
You get an assessment of current partnerships at institution, faculty and researcher level, and a shortlist of prospective partners.
Alumni and stakeholder insight
Alumni take your university with them for the rest of their lives.
Keeping track of them is hard, though. We help you link alumni records to career and research data, compare cohorts, and run research with students, alumni and employers, who shape reputation in ways the rankings surveys don’t capture.
You get a linked alumni dataset, cohort analysis and reporting you can share with your board.
Why work with us
I have spent most of my career building measures for complex organisations, from the THE rankings to interdisciplinary science assessment with the Schmidt Science Fellows. I also co-founded DataKind UK, which helps charities make better use of their data. The lesson from all of it is the same. Measure what you actually care about, or you will end up managing something else.
How we work
Every engagement starts with a scoping call. Larger pieces of work run in phases, each ending with something you sign off before the next begins. We bill time and materials against a capped budget, so there are no surprises and you only pay for the hours used.
Where we work with personal data, such as alumni records, you remain the data controller and we agree the approach with your data protection officer first.
Something you need to measure?
Tell us what you are trying to show, and to whom.