Category: AI

Governing AI: The Future of Higher Education Financial Management

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how universities manage data, plan resources, and make financial decisions. But as AI adoption accelerates, so too does the need for strong governance, transparency, and trust. In a recent Pilbara Group webinar, industry leaders from Intelligen, Snowflake, and Pilbara Group came together to explore what responsible, governed AI looks like […]

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The 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10: Why Cost-Modelling Must Be Part of the Conversation

The recent EDUCAUSE report — “2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10: Making Connections” — identifies ten pressing technology, data and organisational issues for higher education institutions around the world. (EDUCAUSE Review) While many of these issues focus on technology and data, a clear theme is emerging: institutions must build connections — across people, functions, data systems, and […]

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From Data to Decisions: Asking the Right Questions of Sector Benchmarking in Higher Education

In a time when every university is being asked to do more with less, sector benchmarking has never been more important. Yet, benchmarking isn’t just about lining up numbers — it’s about asking the right questions to turn data into action. At Pilbara Group, we’ve spent years helping universities build Activity-Based Cost models that connect […]

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Higher Ed – Hidden Cost is your Enemy! – ABC and AI can find it!

I was chatting with Gary Cokins on LinkedIn last week about using Activity-Based Costing (ABC) for university financial management and I mentioned that by using traditional financial accounting methods a lot of costs could be missed, specifically cross-subsidization and overhead. Cross-subsidization occurs where the costs of teaching subjects are covered by other schools, think elective […]

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