Big Data Analytics for Higher Education in The Cloud Era

Universities today possess large volumes of structured and unstructured data, generated from several educational and administrative processes and systems. This data forms what is known today as big data. The common challenge many universities face today is to find the most effective way to harness this data, visualize it and then optimize it for its purposes of continuously delivering enhanced education. While big data technologies require costly infrastructure and expertise for its life cycle management, there has been overwhelming success using Big Data Analytics (BDA) in the business sector for cost reduction and effectiveness. This provides the motivation to explore the use of BDA in the education sector to understand the opportunities it might provide to higher education. In this paper, we explore how data and analytics have been used so far in the higher education sector for enhanced learning or to support decisions, what opportunities and challenges surround BDA in this sector.