New Platform Leverages Advanced Analytics to Surface Potential Adult Learners

Intelligent Names from Liaison International uses data science and analytics to help colleges and universities identify and re-engage adult learners

WATERTOWN, Mass., July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Liaison International, developer of the technology that has helped millions of students apply to academic programs at more than 1,000 colleges and universities over the last 30 years, today announced the release of a new analytics solution designed to help colleges and universities more effectively identify previously impossible to find adult learners. The new platform, called Intelligent Names, provides colleges and universities with a powerful new way to discover these sought-after potential students by leveraging scientific polling and advanced analytics.

More than two years since the pandemic began, colleges and universities continue to grapple with the effects of declining enrollment. These declines are driven both by systemic changes like test-optional admissions, in addition to rapidly changing student demographics. 

"The disruption of the pandemic and its impact on admissions and enrollment management has only accelerated the need for colleges to reach and serve increasingly diverse demographics, including adult learners, transfers, and professional students who can often be hiding in plain sight," said Erin O'Brien, Chief Enrollment and Marketing Officer at the University at Buffalo School of Management. O'Brien believes that tapping into the power of predictive modeling and data science can help identify adult learners who are highly motivated to continue their education but have often been disconnected from higher education for long periods of time.

Intelligent Names helps colleges and universities identify and engage adults interested in returning to higher education, either to complete an undergraduate degree or continue with graduate, professional, and continuing education. Heads of enrollment management and admissions can now access interactive data visualization and use demographic data analysis to precisely target prospective adult students with a statistically high propensity to re-enroll based on key demographics, such as gender, ethnicity, income, educational attainment, household status, and geographic location.

Enrollment management and admissions teams at every type of institution can customize searches to identify high-propensity adult students and drill down based on their target student audiences and enrollment criteria. Powered by "living analytics"–models that are continuously updated as new data becomes available–the tool combines proprietary and publicly available data to match institutions with adult learner prospects based on their likelihood of enrolling in undergraduate, graduate, or continuing education. 

"As our clients create new pathways to degree completion, graduate school, and career advancement, we at Liaison need to help these institutions connect to and build relationships with adult learners in the regions and communities that our clients serve," said Andy Hannah, president of Othot, the data-science division of Liaison International. "The traditional sources to replenishing enrollment pipelines continue to shrink, and institutions must find new ways to reach and engage with a generation of students who are more diverse in age, ethnicity, and professional background than any in history. Intelligent Names is a data science solution that addresses this need."

An initial cohort of colleges and universities—which includes private research university Brandeis University and the University at Buffalo, a SUNY system flagship—is currently piloting the new solution. 

The new offering is the latest addition to Liaison's Total Enrollment product ecosystem, which enables institutions to integrate historically siloed products, applications, and workflow tools from other technology providers alongside those developed by Liaison. The features and functionality from across the Liaison family of products provide campus leaders with a unique set of planning, analytics, outreach, and communication tools and services needed to help institutions navigate complex enrollment and retention challenges—and tailor support for incoming and enrolled students.

SOURCE Liaison