Overview of big data and analytics in higher education

Abstract

Our interactions with digital technologies in various spaces and time continue to generate a large amount of data. Big Data describes the significant growth in volume and variety of data that is no longer possible to manage using traditional databases. With the help of analytics, these seemingly disparate and heterogeneous quantities of data can be processed for patterns, which can in turn engender useful insights critical for decision-making. Business organisations are starting to systematically understand and explore how to process and analyse these vast array of data to improve decision-making.