This Singapore private university enrolled approximately 9,500 students across four schools — business, computing, design, and social sciences — with a significant proportion of working adults and international students. Student attrition was a growing concern: the first-year dropout rate had risen to 17%, well above the institution's target of 10%, with exit surveys pointing to a disconnect between standardized course delivery and diverse student needs.
The university's student-to-advisor ratio of 1:350 meant that personalized academic guidance was practically impossible. Students who fell behind often went unnoticed until they failed examinations, by which point intervention was too late. The learning management system (LMS) captured rich engagement data — login patterns, content completion rates, assessment scores, discussion forum participation — but this data was presented in raw dashboards that neither advisors nor faculty had time to interpret.
International students, who comprised 38% of enrollment and paid premium fees, faced additional challenges. Many arrived with different academic preparation levels and learning styles, yet the curriculum made no accommodation for these differences. The university's board had identified personalized learning as a strategic priority but lacked the internal capability to implement it at scale.
Pertama Partners conducted an AI Readiness Audit that analyzed the university's LMS data spanning four semesters and over 2.8 million student-content interaction records. We found strong predictive signals for student risk within the first three weeks of each semester — students who would eventually drop out showed distinct patterns of declining engagement, selective content skipping, and delayed assignment submissions.
Our AI Pilot Program developed an integrated learning intelligence platform with three components: a student risk prediction engine that identified at-risk students within the first three weeks of each semester, a personalized learning pathway recommender that suggested supplementary resources, alternative study approaches, and peer study group matches based on individual learning patterns, and an adaptive assessment system that identified specific knowledge gaps and generated targeted review materials.
The AI Transformation Program deployed the platform university-wide and integrated it directly into the LMS. Academic advisors received AI-driven dashboards showing their entire cohort's risk levels, recommended interventions, and predicted outcomes. Executive Training with the provost and school deans established governance protocols for educational AI, including student data privacy safeguards compliant with Singapore's PDPA and the university's IRB requirements. Team Training prepared faculty to use AI insights in their teaching — adjusting lecture content based on aggregate comprehension patterns and providing targeted support to struggling students.
"Every student who drops out represents a failure of our system, not the student. Pertama Partners gave us the intelligence to identify and support struggling students before they lose confidence and leave."— Prof. Lim Siew Hoon, Provost
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