UMUC to spin off analytics office as a private business

University of Maryland University College is planning to turn its data analytics office into an independent company that will provide business intelligence and analysis services to other universities across the country.

The new company, called HelioCampus, will absorb all 16 current staff members of the college’s Office of Analytics and is expected to generate more than $1 million in annual gross revenues, according to university officials.

Profits generated by HelioCampus will support scholarship programs to reduce — and potentially even eliminate — tuition costs for graduates of Maryland’s community colleges who then want to earn their bachelor’s degrees from UMUC, said university President Javier Miyares.

Since most of its students are working adults, the university doesn’t have the history of philanthropic donations that institutions like the University of Maryland, College Park have, Miyares said.

Commercializing intellectual property can increase the school’s endowment and, since the university doesn’t need to finance new buildings or research projects, can be used to support scholarships, Miyares said. Eliminating tuition costs for community college graduates may be ambitious, but it’s realistic, he said.

The university created the Office of Analytics four years ago to increase efficiency and keep costs low in the face of a decline in enrollment that was prompted, in part, by military downsizing. Active duty military and their dependents account for about half of the university’s enrollment, according to UMUC.

Officials now feel they can monetize the platform developed by the office. HelioCampus will offer a cloud-based subscription service than can be customized for each institution that uses it.

Clients will not only be able to access a variety of data related to business operations, academic programs, student performance, and other topics, but will also have access the company’s data analysts for consultation, said Darren Catalano, UMUC’s vice president of analytics, who will be CEO of HelioCampus.

“You can have the technical platform in the world, and that doesn’t help you make decisions,” Catalano said. “You really need the people to help you understand what the data is telling you.”

“It’s abundantly clear that this capability is lacking at the vast majority of institutions,” said Pete Young, UMUC’s senior vice president of analytics, planning and technology, who will be UMUC’s representative on the HelioCampus board.

By providing its own platform, HelioCampus aims to save its client schools the cost of building their own analytic systems, Young said. UMUC officials would have preferred to buy such a program “off the shelf” a few years ago, but the right product didn’t exist yet, he said.

UMUC plans to provide a single, lump-sum investment of $10 million to start the company and support its projected growth over the first few years, officials said.

Over the next two months, the new company will move to co-working space in Bethesda, although some employees – who will now be providing data analysis to the university as a client – will remain at the UMUC offices.

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted Friday morning to approve the plan, which drew praise from board members.

“UMUC is again trailblazing a new path for higher education, not only in Maryland, but across the nation,” Robert L. Caret, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, said in a statement. “It fills an important niche as institutions of higher education seek cost-effective ways to utilize ‘big data’ without adding infrastructure and staff.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also praised the plan, saying in a statement that it was “exactly the type of innovation my administration is looking for.”