Education
Education
Universities are under pressure like never before. While circumstances appear tough, the good news is that Canadian universities have proven themselves world-class in the past and many have demonstrated that they have the tools to quickly adapt and thrive in changing contexts.
To reach their potential, universities need to be outstanding in teaching, research and civic engagement, with global top quartile performance achievable. Efficient and effective administration is a vital enabler of performance.
Our consultants are strategic advisors to many of the world’s largest higher education institutions. In the past three years we have completed more than 300 projects with our 50 global university clients, covering the full range of university functions. We are the partner-of-choice for leading universities in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand’
Our work in higher education is complemented by that of NousCubane, a Nous Group company. Cubane’s administrative benchmarking enables clients to drive change in their organization.
Our consulting services include
Institution and faculty strategy
Universities need to ensure their education offer connects to their vision, strategy and the changing expectations and needs of students. Our expert consultants partner with institutions to optimise and refine what is offered, to whom and how. We can support you with domestic and international strategy, course architecture, pricing and discounting, and delivery models and modes.
Organisational performance
Transformation in university performance is critical to enabling universities to do high-quality research and deliver strong education outcomes. Our consultants use our transformation expertise to develop the institutional infrastructure to deliver these results. We can support you with functional restructuring and service design, digital capabilities, system and process improvement, campus and asset utilisation, and financial performance.
Research focus and productivity
Many universities are striving to further their impact and enhance their reputations through improved research performance. Our consultants support universities to build a research focus and attain the capability to drive performance and recognition. We can help you to develop research priorities and talent strategy, and improve research outcomes, including commercialisation.
Educational direction
Universities need to ensure their education offer connects to their vision, strategy and the changing expectations and needs of students. We partner with institutions to optimise and refine what is offered, to whom and how. Our consultants can support you with domestic and international strategy, course architecture, pricing and discounting, and delivery models and modes.
Change through people
Leadership and culture is a key enabler of university performance. While academic leadership has traditionally focused on the professorial status of leaders, universities are building the capabilities of a broad range of leaders to drive performance. Our consultants provide expert guidance on developing people capability. We can support you with major transformation, workforce strategy, leadership, culture and change, and strengthening professional services.
Student experience
A quality student experience creates meaningful relationships, a sense of belonging and a unique learning experience. Our consultants help universities to craft an outstanding student experience that harnesses ideas from across the globe and improves employability outcomes. We can support you with student services, completion and outcomes, as well as alumni strategy.
Helping post-secondary institutions achieve their mission
Our dynamic team of experts is committed to partnering with post-secondary institutions to solve strategic challenges, drive performance and build capability.

Nous Group Study of Higher Education Professional Services Leaders 2023
The report, Closing the divide, explores the main challenges, priorities, and critical enablers to driving whole-of-university change. It makes clear that today’s leaders are operating in a complex world full of contradictions: the need to make big capital investments while operating deficits loom.

Using personas and journey maps to transform university alumni engagement
Queen’s University advancement team invited us to work with it to develop personas and journey maps so the university could better nurture alumni at scale. The university wanted to understand a broad cross-section of the alumni base, and to go beyond simple database demographics.

Co-designing student experience delivers benefits to students and institutions
Improving student experience is essential for universities to enhance their reputation, attract and retain students, and strengthen alumni engagement.