A Step towards Big Data Architecture for Higher Education Analytics

Big Data analytics in the higher education sector is used relatively less than in other sectors but its use is growing gradually. Big Data analytics in this sector needs to be combined with business processes to improve institutional operations and support institutions in offering innovative services to students. The retention rate of students can be improved if an early alert system based on Big Data analysis is set up and intervention is appropriately deployed. In this paper we discuss the functional capabilities of Big Data analytics in Higher Education and a step towards Big Data architecture to implement data analytics to benefit the Higher Education institutions and their stakeholders. This paper reports an experimental study with 309 postgraduate students to explore how Big Data Architecture can be used for Higher Education analytics.