Why good data is the foundation for all HEMIS decisions

"Our ability to succeed depends on our ability to understand our institution from the inside, learn from the rolling trends and adapt our systems and activities to continually improve."

This was Professor Suki Goodman's message while delivering a keynote address at the opening of the Southern African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR) 2026 Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) Institute. The event was hosted by UCT from 12 to 14 August at the Graduate School of Business and Goodman, the dean of the Faculty of Commerce, was speaking on behalf of UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mosa Moshabela. The topics for the three days were "Rebuilding core capability"; "Strengthening technical compliance"; and "Sustaining capacity and institutional resilience".

HEMIS is the primary management information system used by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to inform policy, planning, funding, and oversight decisions across South Africa's higher education sector.

The theme for 2026 was "Sustaining HEMIS Capability: Building Empowered Practitioners and Institutional Resilience".

The three-day gathering was designed as a technical training space with hands-on workshops, facilitated sessions, expert panels, and networking activities.

UCT's Institutional Planning Department (IPD) co-hosted the HEMIS Institute together with the Academic Administration Office in the Registrar's office, on behalf of SAAIR. This included all aspects of organising the event - from logistics, programme development and inviting speakers to providing facilitator briefs.

IPD director, Ashraf Conrad, said the HEMIS Institute was deliberately structured as an interactive learning environment for both emerging and experienced practitioners.

Explaining more about HEMIS, Ashraf Conrad, the director of IPD, said HEMIS is not simply a data collection system. "It is the foundation upon which many of DHET's [Department of Higher Education and Training] most significant decisions relating to funding, planning, transformation, and performance oversight are based."

Conrad said delegates attending the HEMIS Institute worked at various levels in faculties, central administration and planning and reporting. This includes faculty administrators who input student records or course information; HEMIS officers who validate and fix or troubleshoot errors in submissions; professional academic administrators who take responsibility for submissions to the DHET; and management information specialists and planners who report on and plan enrolments.

He noted that the HEMIS Institute was deliberately structured as an interactive learning environment for both emerging and experienced practitioners. "A lot of effort went into planning for the event that elicited engagement and discussions that heard not only the frustration experienced but innovation and problem-solving skills of HEMIS practitioners, planners and reporters."

Welcome address

Professor Goodman said UCT was delighted to host a gathering of people whose work, much of which happens behind the scenes, is fundamental to the success of universities.

"Students, academics and researchers may be the most visible faces of a university, but we cannot make good decisions, plan effectively or understand our institutions without the people who generate, analyse and interpret the information on which those decisions depend.

"Your work allows us to understand our institutions honestly: where we are doing well, where we need to improve, and where the emerging challenges may lie. In many ways, you are the custodians of the information that allows universities to make sense of themselves. And that work has never been more important."

Goodman said higher education is operating in an increasingly complex environment. "We are dealing with financial pressures, changing student demographics, rapid technological change, shifting expectations of graduates and growing demands for accountability. At the same time, there are increasing expectations for universities to demonstrate the impact we make to society. There is pressure to reinforce our legitimacy and our credibility.

"In this environment, good data matters. It helps us distinguish assumptions from evidence, see trends before they become problems, and make decisions that are both strategic and responsible."

The event brought together delegates from various universities across South Africa.

She said this is why HEMIS and institutional research matter so much. "They provide an important foundation for institutional planning, student success, resource allocation, policy and governance. But data on its own is not enough. We need good data, interpreted well, and people with the expertise and judgement to know what the data is telling us.

"And this is where I think the work represented in this room becomes particularly important. Technology can make information more accessible and accelerate our ability to analyse it, but technology cannot replace judgement. The quality of our decisions will depend not only on the systems we build, but on the quality, integrity and interpretation of the information that sits behind them. We also need to be asking the right questions."

Goodman said every institution represented at the HEMIS Institute had accumulated enormous knowledge and experience. "We need to make sure that knowledge is live and accessible, is not lost when people move on but becomes part of our institutional working memory.

"It requires those of you with experience in this field to share your knowledge generously. Mentor younger colleagues. Create opportunities for people to learn from one another. And help those entering the profession to develop not only technical expertise, but also the judgement, curiosity and integrity that good institutional research requires."

Data driven

SAAIR is a professional organisation dedicated to advancing the field of institutional research and effectiveness within higher education.

Its president, Elizabeth Booi, the head of Business Intelligence and Data Architect at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), said HEMIS is part of the national information infrastructure for higher education.

She told participants to use the opportunity to learn from each other. "I encourage you to ask questions, challenge assumptions, compare practices, find the person from another institution who has already solved the problem that has been keeping your team awake. Please share what has worked well and what didn't work."

Connecting colleagues

Gareth van Leeve, the deputy director of Data Analytics at Nelson Mandela University, said he was attending his first HEMIS Institute. "For me, it's very beneficial to hear the perspectives of others. I'm looking forward to the enrolment planning and the funding aspects."

Jolene Stanfley, the manager of Data Services at Central University of Technology, said this was her sixth time attending the HEMIS Institute, and every year it has gotten more collaborative. She said she would take what she had learnt back to their faculties so that they could be educated on HEMIS and see how the decisions they make have a ripple effect. "I'm really finding the HEMIS Institutes to be informative. You learn a lot and get to network."