Innovation in the market assurance of new programmes

Historically most universities have applied a simple market demand test to new course proposals, using UCAS data and basic competitor profiling to evaluate the scale of the market and its nature. Compared to commercial processes this is very simple and has had many unintended consequences within HEIs, including internal competition and poor student recruitment when courses are rushed to market.

This project, which ran from January 2010 to March 2011, developed, evaluated and disseminated methods and techniques for the effective market assurance of new programmes, supporting:

• more effective course development and reduced incidences of failure by HEIs to recruit viable cohorts of students
• improved financial sustainability in the sector due to a greater proportion of new courses achieving strong and sustained market appeal
• a more collaborative approach between academics and other professionals (e.g. marketing, quality, HR) to new course development
• the initiation of networks of HE staff with common interests in course development.

Total funding : £159,839

Project report: Download the Innovation in the Market Assurance of new Programmes final report as PDF (318 KB)

Web-site : www.i-map.org.uk