Can your AI actually explain why it gave you that answer, using your institution’s own definitions, not its best guess at them? A few years ago, I asked ChatGPT to help me research a segment of the Australian higher education sector. What came back was detailed, specific, and completely wrong. It invented a technical university […]
READ MOREWhat if the numbers you’re looking at are only showing you half the story? In the hit series Stranger Things, an entire dark universe exists just beneath the surface of everyday life—invisible to most, but very real and very consequential. Universities face their own version of this phenomenon: a hidden economy operating beneath standard financial […]
READ MOREThe Silent Crisis in Higher Education Finances For most Australian universities, margins have become the silent challenge—slowly eroding year after year, often invisible until the impact becomes undeniable. Teaching margins, once healthy buffers that funded innovation and strategic priorities, are now squeezed thin or negative across many disciplines. Understanding why this happens—and more importantly, what […]
READ MOREUniversities around the world are investing heavily in Enterprise AI. Yet despite the promise, a large proportion of enterprise AI initiatives fail to deliver meaningful, sustainable value. The reason is rarely the technology itself—it’s the absence of a coherent economic model that explains how the institution actually works. This is where Professor William F. Massy’s […]
READ MOREUniversities already have a data warehouse, and it is already full of meaning: student systems, HR, finance, research grants, space utilisation, learning platforms. The problem is rarely the absence of data. It’s the absence of connection. When Pilbara shares its models and outputs directly into the university’s Snowflake environment, those outputs stop being reports and […]
READ MOREUnderstanding the Landscape Civil Engineering stands as one of the foundational disciplines in higher education, yet its financial performance reveals fascinating insights when compared to peer engineering programs and non-engineering fields. Using comprehensive Australian sector benchmarks1 from 2024, we can uncover patterns that transcend borders and offer valuable lessons for universities worldwide. The Cost Efficiency […]
READ MOREArtificial 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 […]
READ MOREThe 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 […]
READ MOREIn 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 […]
READ MOREI 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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