Established in 1902 as the Falmouth School of Art, Falmouth University has evolved over more than a century into a leading institution for the creative industries. Located in Cornwall, England, the university spans two campuses in Falmouth and Penryn, offering a diverse range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to its diverse student body.
The Challenge: Moving Beyond 'Gut Feel' Decisions
Amid intense competition, Falmouth University was looking for a new way to achieve its mission of delivering future-ready courses. However, providing students with sustainable opportunities in the labour market required a fresh approach to portfolio development—a process that thus far relied heavily on intuition and historical success.
“Gut feel” decisions were often based on wanting to expand market share in a specific area or invest further in a course that is doing exceptionally well. This process frequently led to proposals that, despite initial enthusiasm, struggled to gain traction or meet strategic goals. According to Julian Hughes, the University's Portfolio Development Lead:
We were coming up with what we deemed great ideas, but they weren’t gaining traction... We lacked strategic acknowledgement and robust evidence.
With increasing policy turbulence, student expectations, and industry demands, the university sought a reliable method to make more informed decisions about which courses to develop, refine, or retire.
Partnering with Lightcast
Falmouth University partnered with Lightcast to access real-time labour market data, including data on skills, job postings, and industry trends. This detailed data powered the transition from intuition to solid evidence.
The Approach: An Impact-Effort Matrix
To maximise the insights gained from Lightcast’s data, the University implemented an Impact-Effort Matrix framework, which was indexed for parity across each measure allowing the University to objectively evaluate courses by balancing potential outcomes with the effort required to achieve them. It is based on two metrics:
Impact Metrics
Impact metrics measured each course's potential benefits and outcomes, considering graduate outcomes, National Student Survey (NSS) scores, and industry alignment. This included the use of Lightcast skills data to compare skills being taught with employer demand.
Effort Metrics
Effort metrics assessed the resources and challenges needed to develop or maintain a course, including software, specialised equipment, academic capacity, and classroom availability.
Creating New Courses and Make A Business Case For Them
Lightcast’s data revealed valuable insights into the skills employers seek. By embedding these insights into course design, the university ensures that their graduates gain skills with real-world relevance.
The introduction of data-backed business cases also transformed how senior leadership evaluated course proposals. Instead of subjective pitches, each proposal now includes a clear assessment of potential impact and costs.
By the time a proposal reaches the senior team, they have a fully-fledged, considered business case with each of those measures pointed out and bucketed out with mitigation against it. It’s no longer just a piece of paper saying, ‘We think this is a great idea.
This streamlined decision-making process helps the University direct resources toward programmes with the highest potential for success.
Refining Existing Courses to Cover Skills Needs
The matrix doesn’t just help with new courses; it also reveals where existing programmes need enhancements. When data shows that courses with fewer embedded skills lead to poorer graduate outcomes, the University knows where to make targeted improvements.
Who would know that the fewer skills taught, the graduate outcomes are lower? Once we ratify and index it, the subjectivity walks away, and we end up with really hard data that says, ‘if we do these things, it might give us a higher score than if we don’t’.
A key factor in the University’s success is cross-departmental collaboration, with teams from academic, technical, and finance contributing to the portfolio development process. This collective effort ensures that decisions are well-rounded, widely supported, and aligned with the university’s strategic goals.
Moving Forward With Confidence
Falmouth University’s partnership with Lightcast has fundamentally transformed its approach to curriculum development. By embedding data-driven insights into every decision, the university can confidently adapt to industry, policy, and student expectations changes. As Julian says:
It gives us something to walk away from our subjectivity. So we can make sure it's focused around our needs and certainly our mission, visions, and values.
If you would like to explore how Lightcast data can support portfolio development or course research, contact our team.
💡 Check out more case studies on how our data is helping universities shape portfolios that are fit for the future.
