The move will strengthen THE’s data science capabilities, the company noted, allowing UK universities to “analyse and optimise their place in the market”, and assist with student recruitment and admissions.

The acquisition of the company founded five years ago also complements existing data benchmarking and consultancy for institutions and governments services, THE noted.

“dataHE’s strength in data science and its areas of commercial focus as being the perfect complement to THE’s existing offer as a data and insights business,” said Paul Howarth, THE’s chief executive.

“This is just the latest acquisition for THE as we build on strong organic growth by adding the best businesses in higher education to our portfolio.”

Earlier this year, THE acquired US news provider Inside Higher Ed, in addition to the more recent purchase of international student recruitment organiser, BMI.

In late 2020, THE also acquired UK-based consultancy business The Knowledge Partnership.

Mark Corver, who founded dataHE alongside Andrew Hargreaves, noted that THE places the value of data at “the heart of what it does”.

“Taking data-backed decisions is increasingly critical to higher education worldwide”

“DataHE is dedicated to helping universities use data better, with our purpose-built analysis products making a difference across UK higher education,” he said.

“Taking data-backed decisions is increasingly critical to higher education worldwide, and this is always better with data and analysis working together. It is rare to find such a natural match and we are immensely excited to be joining THE.”

THE, which itself was acquired by Inflexion Private Equity in February 2019, has a clear mission “to support and enable universities across the world to excel”, Howarth added.

“We want to enrich the services we bring to the market; we want to deliver more value to our clients.  This new relationship provides a platform for us to be able to do just that,” Hargreaves concluded.