How to better understand the course of studies and study failure? Data analysis can also help

What can be done to improve the quality of studies, reduce failure, or determine which study programs to open? And how to prevent errors in university data analysis? At the Data in Action conference, participants focused on innovations in university management and sought answers to these questions.

Approximately every second bachelor's student in the Czech Republic will not complete their studies. This is according to 2023 statistics from the Ministry of Education. The failure rate is one of the main criteria for evaluating studies. But are these data really accurate and reliable? Are the analyses based on complete and comparable sources? The two-day conference, Data in Action: Innovation and Quality in University Management 2026, at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, was dedicated to data and its use in the university environment.

From the admissions process, through the course of studies, to its successful or unsuccessful completion. Experts from fourteen Czech public universities analyzed the students' life cycle in data. They shared ways to turn data analysis results into concrete steps for the strategic management of universities and faculties. “The second year of the event focused on the area of education, which is crucial for universities. The meeting of IT developers, data analysts, and university management fosters an environment where many good ideas are born. According to the feedback in the discussions, the topics addressed were very topical,” summarized Lenka Jirsová, director of the university’s Information Technology Centre, on behalf of the organizer, UWB.

A hot topic at the conference was the inconsistency in the outputs of different systems. Participants also pointed out problems in merging such outputs and the error rate of entering primary data. “Data analyses face many challenges. Trust in their results and interpretation is essential, which depends on the quality of the input information and the processing methodology. Different systems may show different numbers for the same query - for example, the number of applications - depending on the methodology used,” emphasized Jiří Kohout, Vice-Rector for Educational Planning and Student Affairs, in his contribution.

The Data in Action conference didn't miss the topic of artificial intelligence. The possibility of using AI to process data from data warehouses was discussed. The data warehouse was established at UWB in 2018, making it the first data analytics center at a public university in the Czech Republic. It is dedicated to preparing data sources and analyses for the university's needs, as well as anonymized data for the OpenData project. So far, people have been working with data. However, today's times offer opportunities that could significantly accelerate and streamline these processes. However, the conference showed that the use of artificial intelligence in this area still poses significant risks. The first is ensuring the protection of sensitive data, and the second is, for example, verifying the results obtained.

Almost fifty experts attended the second year of the Data in Action conference at UWB. The organizers are already planning next year's meeting to follow up on this year's meeting. More information about the conference can be found on the datavakci website.