While student retention and success are generally considered important objectives for higher education institutions. However, each year sees a significant number of students globally leave institutions without completing their degree, costing higher education billions of dollars annually. Key challenges to retaining students include both academic and non-academic pressures such as financial constraints and personal stress, prompting universities to seek ways to better support their students.

Technology-enabled solutions are aiding students' retention and persistence across a number of fronts, including academic support, non-academic assistance, and career readiness. For academic support, in addition to university-provided services such as academic staff and learning units, digital tools and services are also playing a larger part in helping students persist and succeed in higher education. For non-academic support, there is an increasing acknowledgment that providing pastoral care to students, particularly after the pandemic, is essential for cultivating engagement and success. Universities are increasingly drawing on services that provide analytics to track students' progress, mentoring programs, financial aid support, well-being programs, etc. Finally, career readiness remains a top priority for students, faculty, and administrators, yet many institutions struggle in this area. Services to universities in career readiness have grown over the last number of years with solutions helping guide students through skill assessments, job placement, CV preparation, interview preparation. These services increasingly work with universities to help students transition to professional life.

As the market develops, personalized services and support tailored to individual student needs are expected to grow. Also, data from different systems likely be integrated to understand students' holistic journey right from admissions to transition into professional life.