Pepperdine Graziadio Business School Taps Data Science to Help Prospective MBA Students Project Their Career and Earnings Potential

In collaboration with AstrumU®, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School launches pioneering machine learning initiative to help prospective students forecast the return on investment of an MBA

MALIBU, CALIF. (JUNE 16, 2021) -- Pepperdine Graziadio Business School today announced the launch of a new initiative that will enable students to forecast the labor market value of earning a graduate business degree. In collaboration with Seattle-based data science startup AstrumU®, the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School is pioneering the use of a new machine learning tool to help each prospective student estimate their return on investment from full-time and professional MBA degree programs at the front end of the enrollment process.

“As MBA candidates navigate an ever-changing world of work and a more competitive job market, it’s critically important that business schools demonstrate the lasting relevance and return on investment that our alumni can expect after graduating ,” said Deryck J. van Rensburg, dean of the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. “This work is about providing prospective MBA students with tangible insights based on alumni employment outcomes. It’s about getting more transparent about how the MBA experience connects them to real-world opportunities for growth and advancement.”

With AstrumU®’s Enrollment Marketing Toolkit, staff, and administrators can analyze labor market, alumni, and employer data to demonstrate the economic and career trajectories of Pepperdine Graziadio Business School MBA alumni to prospective students. The technology will enable the business school to use sophisticated data science models to match course-level outcomes, academic performance, and extracurricular experiences with salary and job placement outcomes from data verified by employers. Students then receive a personalized prediction for their desired industry, based on how alumni with comparable career backgrounds and goals fared in the labor market.

Using the same data, admissions counselors can easily personalize their communications with prospective students and enhance conversations regarding how degree programs can help to facilitate their personal and professional aspirations.

“With an increasingly competitive landscape for graduate programs and a rapidly changing labor market, students are becoming more and more discerning about the programs they select and are hungry for better information on how their educational experiences will translate into economic opportunity in the workforce,” said Adam Wray, founder and CEO of AstrumU. “Forward-thinking institutions like Pepperdine Graziadio Business School are designing new ways to build transparency around tangible employment outcomes into the admissions process itself. It’s helping to not just improve enrollment outcomes, but ultimately give students a greater degree of choice and agency as they chart their educational and career future.”

The Pepperdine Graziadio Business School is one of the first graduate schools of business to pilot the new program. A total of twenty universities will form an initial cohort of pioneering institutions who will gain early access to the tool to boost student enrollment and retention using insights from the platform’s analysis of millions of student educational and career journeys

Founded in 1969, the Graziadio Business School offers a variety of business degree programs including full-time and part-time MBA programs, joint degree programs, as well as other executive doctorate, master's, and bachelor's degree programs. Programs are offered both online and across Pepperdine University’s five California campuses.

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About AstrumU®: AstrumU® translates educational experiences into economic opportunity. We are on a mission to quantify the return on education investment for learners, education providers, and employers. We help institutions measure the value created for incoming and returning students, while assisting them in securing industry partnerships that lead students seamlessly into high-demand career pathways. Institutions partner with AstrumU® to drive enrollment and increase alumni and corporate engagement, while extending economic mobility opportunities inclusively to all learners.

About Pepperdine University Graziadio Business School: For more than 50 years, the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School has challenged individuals to think boldly and drive meaningful change within their industries and communities. Dedicated to developing Best for the World Leaders, the Graziadio School offers a comprehensive range of MBA, MS, executive, and doctoral degree programs grounded in integrity, innovation, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship. The Graziadio School advances experiential learning through small classes with distinguished faculty that stimulate critical thinking and meaningful connection, inspiring students and working professionals to realize their greatest potential as values-centered leaders. Follow Pepperdine Graziadio on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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