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Launching the Sandpiper Global Reputation Capital Index: Managing Reputation in the Education Sector Report
February 2025
By Fran Boase and Emma Huang, Education sector leads at Sandpiper
Education in 2025 is rapidly evolving based on new technology and AI, increasingly diverse sets of stakeholders, and the need for engagement to chart a path forward to deliver services to global populations. In this evolving landscape, we thought there was no better time to release the findings of our new report, Sandpiper Global Reputation Capital Index: Managing Reputation in the Education Sector.
We launched our Sandpiper Global Reputation Capital Index in October 2024, and have since been drilling down into the data for individual sectors. The publication of today’s report features the responses of 180 global leaders in the education sector across six contents.
Similar to global leaders across all sectors, 90% of education sector respondents rated all of these areas of reputation management important, but only 60% rated their own organisation’s capabilities as strong.
Our results show that reputational is also becoming more difficult for education sector leaders to manage, with 62% noting that it has become more difficult in the past year, compared to only 18% that say it is getting easier. Leaders in the sector are also highly likely to face organizational risks based on reputational weakness.
The index groups respondents into performance-based categories – Trailblazers (12%), Aspirants (54%), Followers (32%), and Beginners (3%) – using 51 separate variables across nine areas of reputation management. Education leaders outpaced peers in some areas while trailing behind in others; they perform above the global average in government and regulatory affairs and crisis management, but are behind in AI & digital environment performance.
The report also reveals areas where education leaders should invest in the future as well as opportunities for improving reputation management within their organisations.
Top areas where increased investment is needed:
- Community engagement
- Employee engagement
- Media profile and relationships
- Executive / leadership team profiling
Key opportunities for improving reputation management:
- AI will continue to be central to the industry and needs to be factored into reputation management strategies.
- The education sector has one of the smallest percentage of Trailblazers in reputation management of any sector, suggesting that more needs to be done to improve organisations’ capabilities.
- Diverse stakeholders have distinct needs from organisations, requiring insights into multiple audience groups to manage reputation.
- Enhanced media relations and digital capabilities can help organisations build reputation, and must be supported by senior leaders in the sector.
As we celebrate the role of education in fostering peace and development, we hope these data-driven insights showcase opportunities for how leaders in the sector can enhance their organisational resiliency and better deliver to their stakeholders.
Download the full report here: Sandpiper Global Reputation Capital Index: Managing Reputation in the Education Sector. To view the full Sandpiper Global Reputation Capital Index 2024, click here. The data for the full report was collated from a survey of over 2,700 CEOs, other C-suite Leaders, and Corporate Affairs leaders. All those surveyed are based in the global headquarters of their organisations across 27 markets in six continents.
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