Analysing labour market data to support RMIT’s course development

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RMIT is a multi-sector university of technology, design and enterprise. In 2019 RMIT delivered learning experiences to more than 97,000 students across Australia, Southeast Asia and Europe.

The university sought a dashboard to improve decisions

RMIT wanted a comprehensive dashboard to present complex analysis of national and state labour market and skills trends in order to improve decision-making in developing courses and training products.

Integrating datasets revealed insights

Nous designed and built a dashboard using Data Assets Warehouse for Nous (DAWN), which includes real-time job advertisement data from Burning Glass Technologies and other valuable datasets. Integrating multiple datasets helped generate new insights.

To develop the dashboard, Nous:

worked closely with RMIT to define the scope, including the performance indicators and data visualisation that would assess markets and skills
used advanced techniques and tools to undertake analysis, including coding more than 50 performance indicators in R (a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics) across different labour markets (such as occupation and industry categorisations) and skill groups
developed two dashboard modules that were intuitive, comprehensive, user-friendly and visually illustrative, using the R Shiny app
refined the dashboard’s analysis and data visualisation through regular engagement of users and decision-makers
supported adoption by instructing key users and developing a training guide.

Here is a small sample of the dashboard:

Market opportunity data plotted on a chart

The user-friendly dashboard is driving action

RMIT is using the online dashboard to inform decisions on new and existing learning offers. The data tool simplifies market analysis and provides insights on emerging labour market and skill trends. Decisions can be made with greater information on current and emerging workforce needs, helping RMIT to continue to deliver strong student employment outcomes.

RMIT said it was impressed by Nous’ deep analytical expertise and collaborative approach to ensuring the dashboard met all users’ requirements.

What you can learn from RMIT

Deep insights come from integrating multiple datasets, including from the Data Assets Warehouse for Nous (DAWN).
An impactful and effective dashboard should be developed in collaboration with users and decision-makers.
Applications like the R Shiny app can achieve data visualisation that supports easy comprehension.

KEY PEOPLE IN THIS PROJECT