Business leaders around the world are using emerging technologies to capitalize on data, to create business value and to compete effectively in a digitally driven world. They rely on data analytics to accelerate time to insight and to gain a better understanding of their customers’ needs and wants. However, big data and data analytics solutions in higher education are new topics. There has been limited progress in accumulating the extremely rich data that flow through higher education systems for the purpose of acquiring usable information for students, instructors, administrators and the public. The key objective of this article is to propose a conceptual model for the successful implementation of analytics in higher education. The article also examines some of the potential benefits of big data and analytics as applied to the world of higher education and explores implementation challenges that can be expected. Furthermore, the study reviews key attributes of successful analytics platforms and illustrates some of the routes that might be taken to implement these technologies in education. Finally, it highlights the successful implementation of analytics solutions in several universities.

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The mediation literature of the past decade is organized into six topical areas: the determinants of mediation, mediation per se, approaches employed by mediators, determinants of the mediation approaches, outcomes of mediation, and determinants of the mediation outcomes. The literature that describes mediation per se, mediation approaches, and outcomes is very descriptive rather than theoretical. The literature that deals with the determinants of the mediation, approaches, and outcomes is quite descriptive but also provides an ample base for theory development.

The role of dean in a business school is, by design, more strategic than tactical. And, when the various stakeholders that a dean must interact with are considered, the ability of a dean to have much of an operating knowledge of what is going on in the teaching and learning space of a school is very limited. The problem, however, is that the dean must be an advocate for this critical function of the business school mission. To understand how these two dimensions might be reconciled, this article looks at the drivers of a dean’s perspective and the disengagement these drivers create. The article ends by suggesting ways for a dean to stay connected to this vital function of the school.

Most studies of mediation strategy focus on the “how” and “what” of the process, but fail to take into consideration when particular techniques are used. To improve our understanding of mediation strategies in general, the authors of this article propose a new methodological approach that includes an analysis of the particular techniques that are used as well as the order of their use.