Leveraging Decision Intelligence to Drive Student Success: A Case Study of Western Governors University

This IDC Perspective examines how Western Governors University (WGU) is implementing decision intelligence (DI) in partnership with Aera Technology to support personalized student interventions at scale. The initial use case focuses on improving assessment readiness and course completion through faculty-facing recommendations generated from integrated student data. The case study details WGU's implementation approach, early outcomes, governance model, and plans to expand DI across additional stages of the student journey, offering practical considerations for other institutions exploring similar efforts."At a time when much of higher education's focus is on generative AI and agentic AI, WGU's adoption of decision intelligence - borrowed from the supply chain industry - illustrates an alternative approach to improving student outcomes through structured, outcome-driven interventions," said Matthew Leger, senior research manager for IDC's Worldwide Education and EdTech Digital Strategies research program.