Ellucian explores impact of today's trends on future of higher education at Going Global conference

Branjord will draw from the company's experience of working with 2,400 customer institutions from 40 countries around the world.

The presentation will frame the challenges of resources, institutional performance, and accountability within today's new austerity; how demographic shifts influence the ways that institutions reach, engage, and support diverse new student populations, whether new educational practices such as MOOCs and alternative credentialing disrupt traditional education practices, and how transformative technologies such as mobile are shifting ideas about teaching and learning.

"Our global customer base gives us a perspective into the internationalization of education - the challenges that have been addressed, and the ones that still remain," said Branjord.

"We listen to our customers who come from every corner of the globe talking about these issues. They understand that educational attainment—for the many, not for the few—is a global imperative," added Branjord.

Branjord is responsible for Ellucian's student systems, which include Banner by Ellucian, PowerCampus by Ellucian, Colleague by Ellucian, Ellucian International Student & Scholar Management, and Ellucian Degree Works. Before joining Ellucian, Branjord was executive director of the University of Colorado system's $55m student system replacement project and led a successful system-wide implementation of the PeopleSoft suite of products.

She also served as the president of the Higher Education User Group for Oracle applications, representing 700 schools on five continents and advocating for advances in those systems. As IT director at the University of Minnesota, Branjord was responsible for enterprise application functions in a complex, multi-institution organization. She also set the vision for and led the implementation of customized self-services applications, which generated a $2m annual cost savings for the university.

Going Global is an annual conference hosted by the British Council, offering an open forum for global leaders of international education to discuss issues facing the international education community. Since its inception in 2004, Going Global has grown from a bi-annual event in the UK to an annual event travelling the globe.

Each year it attracts over 1,000 registered delegates from across the tertiary (further and higher) education sectors and a variety of other industries with perspectives on international education. Ellucian is an Official Gold Sponsor of Going Global 2013.