Disrupting themselves before someone else does: how QS is building a future-ready workforce with Multiverse

QS helps universities and business schools worldwide identify, shape and deliver data-driven strategies that secure their futures in a rapidly changing sector. But the company’s leadership knows that sustaining its competitive edge depends on something more than data. It depends on people.

Ben Sowter, Senior Vice President for the Sector Intelligence Division, puts it plainly. “This is a people business,” he said. “Your team is only as good as its collective capabilities and the relevance of those capabilities. AI makes it possible for a small group of people to catch up and potentially overtake a large, historically successful organisation like us. So it’s vital that we disrupt ourselves before somebody else does — by upskilling our people to keep them on the crest of that wave of change.”

A broad base of skills — and the people to match

QS has drawn on programmes from across the Multiverse portfolio to embed data and AI confidence at every level of the organisation. Dr Hannah Gore, Head of People (EMEA, US & Global Contractors), has seen the impact first-hand.

“Diversifying our apprenticeship portfolio – and ensuring a diversity of people on the programmes – has made a massive impact,” she said. “Apprentices aren’t building skills for the end of the course, they’re applying them from the very first workshop. Learners are drawn from across marketing, product, data, analytics and project management, all of which now engage with data and AI in new and unique ways. And nearly 60% of our apprentices identify as female, which is hugely significant in a STEM field where they’ve been historically underrepresented.”

“Thanks to all this diversity we’re seeing the benefits ripple out across QS, with people sharing knowledge, driving efficiencies and acting as natural ambassadors. Line managers are now queuing up to ask us: can I get more of my team on the programme?”

The results have captured the attention of senior leadership. Every apprentice who has completed the programme to date has achieved either a distinction (80%) or a merit (20%), and the business has realised over £675,000 in cost savings through improvements in data input, processing and automation.

“The ELT have fully embraced the programme — they can see the savings, the streamlining, the new ideas coming forward,” added Dr Hannah. “We’re seeing these benefits build year on year, and in fact apprentices’ applications of AI are already shaping how we think about future workflows.”

Learner impact stories

BeiBei Xiong, Product Manager

BeiBei joined the AI for Business Value programme to stay ahead of a rapidly changing skills landscape, and to ensure she could shape AI’s impact on her role, not the other way around.

“I thought, it’s better to be someone who knows how to use AI than someone whose job is at risk from it,” she said. “The most impactful skill I’ve gained is using AI to create product mockups. Work that used to take weeks — sometimes months — I can now do in real time with stakeholders in the room. It’s ten times faster than before.”

Serena Ricci, Senior Growth Marketing Manager

Using her project time on the Data Insights for Business Decisions (DIBD) (L3) programme, Serena transformed QS’s prospect engagement strategy — and earned a promotion in the process.

“I uncovered a huge proportion of our database that was unengaged,” she said. “The skills I’d gained let me escalate this to leadership in a structured way and bring together cross-functional teams to agree on a new lead acquisition and engagement strategy. The resulting behavioural marketing approach moved us from a 30% engagement rate to 80% year on year, with a tenfold forecasted impact on revenue.”

“The analytical and strategic thinking skills I developed made me a stronger asset to QS. My scope expanded well beyond traditional marketing responsibilities, and it soon became clear that I needed a promotion to reflect this.”

Mustafa Mitashar, Institutional Support Specialist

Mustafa’s role already involved working extensively with data, but the DIBD L3 programme gave him the tools to automate processes he’d long taken for granted.

“With Multiverse, I could apply what I was learning immediately — trial and error happening in real time,” he said. “I’d grown comfortable with the tools I was using, and I wanted to challenge myself. The automation skills I learned cut the time it takes me to gather data for our rankings work by more than a week, which enabled us to expand our rankings and increase the number of institutions covered by 40%.”

Skills as competitive advantage

As the higher education sector faces an era of closures, mergers and consolidation, QS’s ability to help institutions navigate uncertainty has never been more important. Ben Sowter believes the capabilities being built with Multiverse are central to that mission.

“We have, I would argue, the strongest competitive intelligence set anywhere in the world,” he said. “But our reputation with universities is based less on the quality of our data and more on the capability and impact of our people. The skills we’re building with Multiverse are ensuring we extract maximum value from the market intelligence data we hold.”

Ben also believes that by investing in upskilling QS has become more sophisticated in its thinking around data and AI. He said: “That’s visible in how our AI strategy has rallied around shared tools that let different teams collaborate and transfer knowledge more effectively, while staying curious about what’s coming next. This further strengthens our position as the best in our field.”

A partnership built on shared goals

The success of QS’s apprenticeship programmes is rooted in a close working relationship with Multiverse — one defined by shared metrics, regular contact and a deep understanding of QS’s business objectives.

Dr Hannah Gore: “We’re always in close contact with the Multiverse team, tracking metrics, reviewing feedback and making sure the programmes are as successful as possible,” she said. “The sessions they run with apprentices and their line managers give everyone clarity on what’s involved and how the learning fits around work. And because apprentices can apply what they learn straight away, they find the time investment becomes increasingly manageable with every workshop.”

 That success of the partnership has not gone unnoticed outside of QS. The company has been shortlisted for a Best Employer award at the Apprenticeship Guide Awards, and Dr Hannah Gore has been shortlisted for the Leadership in Apprenticeships accolade.

“The awards are a brilliant opportunity to showcase what our apprentices have achieved, and they cement our belief that we’re delivering world-class professional development here at QS with Multiverse,” she said.