Blairgowrie is the data infrastructure behind UK higher education. Verified data on every provider, course and market, and the products that run on it.
At Blairgowrie, everything we do is built on verified data: every provider, every course, every market, collected from source and kept current. Sector experts decide what the data needs to answer, and AI keeps it moving at speed. Nothing is generated; everything is traceable.
One data core, focused through sector expertise, accelerated by AI.
We collect the data from source, structure it, and keep it current. When a number appears in one of our products, it can be traced back to where it came from.
People who know higher education decide what the data needs to answer, and interpret it before anyone relies on it.
AI does the heavy lifting of building and maintaining the datasets, which lets a small team move quickly. It never replaces the data or the judgement.
UniversityData, the Intelligence Suite and UniLens are each built on the same verified foundation.
The open reference point for UK higher education. The data and our published reports, free to read and built to be cited.
Visit UniversityData →Multidimensional intelligence for planning and recruitment teams, with senior advisory behind every report.
Explore the Suite →Course discovery built for education agents, running on the same verified course data, with applicant tools to follow.
Register Interest →Most advisers bring one layer. Blairgowrie builds four, connected, continuously updated and compounding over time.
15 official sources, updated on every release. HESA, OfS, UCAS, DfE and more.
675 provider profiles and a research base that compounds with every report we produce.
Dashboards, reports and briefings that tell an institution where it stands, why, and what happens next.
Intelligence made operational: live applicant platforms, yield intelligence and embedded partnership.
HESA · OfS · UCAS · DfE · ONS · Home Office · Wonkhe · HEPI · Universities UK and more
Explore the full intelligence stack →Blairgowrie was founded by David O'Connor, a former Pro Vice Chancellor, as an advisory practice. The data infrastructure grew out of that work, and today we offer the sector verified data, intelligence and advisory: open reference data on UniversityData, the Intelligence Suite and senior advisory for universities, and UniLens for agents on the way.
CEO & Founder
DBA (Bath), MBA (Open University). PVC and Chief Strategy Officer at BIMM University, 2012 to 2025. Two private equity exits, each returning four times investors' money, and international revenue grown from zero to $12M a year across 50 countries. His doctoral research is the basis for what UniLens measures.
Partner · Brand & Creative
18 years in UK higher education. Built brands for more than five providers from scratch and led student growth from 1,500 to 11,000 across several institutions. Award-winning content marketing, including Best Content Marketing Programme in Education and Think Student's Best Use of User-Generated Content.