Seeing the challenges international markets share with the U.S. in keeping students on the pathway to completion provides us with a solid opportunity to share what we’ve learned in student success science.
Austin, Texas (PRWEB) July 21, 2015
Civitas Learning®, the predictive analytics Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) innovator, has announced the acquisition of BlikBook, a U.K. and Ireland-based student engagement platform. The acquisition reflects increasing interest from European universities in utilizing data science and analytics to improve the student experience. BlikBook, which supports select courses at one-third of U.K. and a majority of Irish institutions, will establish the international base for Civitas Learning. The acquisition of Blikbook by Civitas Learning is one of the first acquisitions of a European founded ed-tech startup in the learning analytics space.
Since launching in 2011, Civitas Learning has held a deep commitment to help its more than 70 college, university, and system partners (which represent more than 750 campuses reaching approximately 2.3 million students) bring deep, relevant data to the front lines of learning to improve student success. Civitas Learning is one of the fastest-growing ed-tech startups in U.S. history, supporting a range of institutions—including research universities, state universities, independents, community colleges, and private sector colleges and universities—with a suite of analytic solutions to improve student outcomes. Founded in the U.K. in 2010, BlikBook focuses on driving engagement among university students by offering a social learning app to improve the student experience and learning outcomes.
“It’s a great combination for the future, in particular for U.K. and Irish Institutions who are increasingly looking for ways to understand and improve student success,” said Cheyne Tan, BlikBook Co-Founder and Managing Director of Civitas Learning International. “BlikBook has been successful in helping solve an important part of the student success equation – increasing and improving student engagement and satisfaction for students across the U.K and Ireland. Civitas Learning will take that focus and expand it with additional user-friendly apps and a deep data science platform to empower universities with the information and insights they need to attract, retain and graduate more students.”
With offices in Dublin and London, BlikBook investors included Forward Partners, Rene Olivieri, Leaf Investments, Delta Partners and Enterprise Ireland.
“I am thrilled by Civitas Learning’s acquisition of BlikBook” said Rene Olivieri, former BlikBook chairman, former COO of Wiley Blackwell, and former HEFCE board member. “The parallels in mission and vision were evident from the beginning – Civitas will expand the success of BlikBook in helping institutions focus on improving student satisfaction, progression and completion.” Expanding upon his commitment to this mission, Rene has agreed to join the Civitas Learning Advisory Board.
“The acquisition is great validation of what the team at BlikBook have achieved and underlines the strength of the analytics platform. We are pleased the business has found a perfect fit in Civitas Learning,” said Hugh O’Driscoll partner at Leaf Investments and former board member of BlikBook.
“We are excited about the BlikBook acquisition,” said Charles Thornburgh, CEO and Founder of Civitas Learning. “They built a product users love, and a team that has a deep understanding of the challenges facing institutions across the U.K. and Ireland. Seeing the challenges international markets share with the U.S. in keeping students on the pathway to completion provides us with a solid opportunity to share what we’ve learned in student success science. The time is right for us to begin looking for higher education pioneers in the U.K. that want to join our growing community and begin learning together.”
“We are seeing statistically significant increases in student persistence, and clear improvement overall in student satisfaction and engagement at our partner institutions,” said Dr. Mark Milliron, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer of Civitas Learning. “This work helps ensure students have increasing opportunities to engage in deeper learning and successfully complete a degree worthy of their investment. It’s clear that bringing data to the front lines of learning—to faculty, advisors, and students—using apps that leverage data science and design thinking moves the needle. Adding BlikBook and the U.K. higher education community into this work is a compelling next step.”
To view case studies, learning briefs and more results please visit the Civitas Learning Space.
About Civitas Learning®
By building a community of forward-thinking higher education institutions, Civitas Learning brings together the best of leading-edge technology, design thinking, and data science in its mission to help a million more college students learn well and finish strong. Using a cloud-based, predictive analytics platform and engaging applications, Civitas Learning helps partner institutions bring deep insights to decision makers, and personalized, real-time recommendations directly to the front lines for students, faculty, and advisors to measurably improve student learning, persistence, and graduation. The reach of Civitas Learning’s partners includes more than 733 campuses reaching more than 2.3 million students. Civitas Learning is based in Austin, Texas, US. For more information, visit: http://www.civitaslearning.com or email cheyne.tan(at)civitaslearning.com
About BlikBook
Founded in 2010, BlikBook connects students and lecturers around course content, delivering improved student engagement and learning outcomes. Founded at London Business School and University College London, we are passionate about changing the way students and lecturers discover and share academic help. Supporting institutions across Europe, North America and Asia, BlikBook has offices in London and Dublin.