Skip to content
Strategy and advisory

Turn uncertainty into a learning strategy you can act on

Curio helps education and enterprise leaders make confident decisions about markets, portfolios, capability, operating models and investment, grounded in evidence and connected to delivery.

An animated roadmap: a route moves through four milestones, past two options, to a flagged destination
The problem

A strategy is only useful if it changes what happens next

Learning leaders are often asked to make high-consequence decisions with incomplete information: where to invest, what to stop, which audiences to serve and how technology or AI should change the model.

An internal workshop can surface opinions. It rarely provides the independent research, financial logic and cross-sector perspective needed to choose among them.

Curio combines market insight, learner and stakeholder research, learning expertise, service design and commercial analysis. We turn that evidence into a clear direction, a defensible business case and a practical path to implementation.

Decisions we can help you make

Six decisions we help leaders make

Where should we compete and grow?

Market and competitor analysis to understand demand, competitive position and opportunities for new programs, products, credentials or services.

What should our portfolio contain?

Portfolio and curriculum strategy that evaluates current offerings, identifies duplication or gaps, and aligns what you offer with learner, industry and organisational needs.

What operating model will support the strategy?

Operating model and governance design that clarifies roles, capabilities, processes and partnerships so the organisation can deliver the ambition in practice.

Which investment can we defend?

Business cases and financial modelling that build the benefits case, delivery options and narrative stakeholders need to make a sound decision.

How should the learner experience change?

Service and learner-journey design that maps the end-to-end experience, finds the friction and redesigns priority touchpoints around real learner and staff needs.

Where can AI add genuine value?

Technology and AI opportunity assessment to identify valuable, feasible and responsible applications, with clear attention to capability, risk and implementation.

What you get

What you'll have at the end

Every strategy engagement ends with something you can take to your board or executive team the following week.

A clear recommendation

One direction, with the evidence behind it and the options we ruled out.

A business case

Costs, benefits, risks and the assumptions they rest on, laid out so your finance team can test them.

An implementation plan

Who does what and in what order, with the first 90 days mapped.

The research itself

Market data, interviews and analysis, so your team can reuse it long after we've gone.

Our strategy work

The strategy work we do

We test whether there's real demand before you invest. That means who the learners are, what they'll pay, who else is in the market and where the gap is. You get a clear go, adapt or stop recommendation.

We review your offer as a whole, find the gaps and overlaps, and recommend what to keep, change or stop. The aim is a portfolio that's easier to market, cheaper to run and closer to what learners and employers need.

We set the direction for a whole learning function, usually over three to five years. It covers who you serve, what you offer, how you deliver it and what it will take to get there.

We define the capabilities a profession or workforce needs at each level, and validate them with the people who'll use them. A good framework becomes the backbone for learning, assessment and career pathways.

We help you decide which systems you need, how they should connect and what to change first. The advice starts from how learners and staff actually work, not from a list of features.

Before a major change program, we define the future state, the gap to close and the steps to get there. You start the program knowing what you're building and why.

How we work

How a strategy engagement runs

Most strategy work with us takes six to 12 weeks and follows four stages.

  1. Frame the question

    We agree the decision you need to make, who makes it and what evidence will settle it.

  2. Gather the evidence

    We combine market and competitor analysis, labour market data, and interviews with learners, staff and industry, with your own enrolment and financial data.

  3. Test the options

    We model two or three realistic paths and work through them with your leadership team, so the recommendation holds up when it's challenged.

  4. Plan the next step

    You get the recommendation, the business case and a plan your team can start on straight away.

Case studies

Strategy work in the real world

Higher education
Modernising distance learning at scale

The University of New England's long history in distance education had become the constraint. We modernised its digital learning environment at scale, against rising student expectations and post-pandemic competitive pressure.
Professional learning
Sizing the real international opportunity

Online CPD already made up around 30% of the Australian Physiotherapy Association's revenue. We sized where international growth was genuinely real rather than assumed, and set out how to pursue it.
Vocational and further education
Redesigning a mental health qualification

Chisholm Institute's Certificate IV in Mental Health had served students well while the workforce moved on. We redesigned it around digital literacy, trauma-informed practice and cultural competence.

See all 12 strategy and advisory case studies →

What comes next

From recommendation to implementation

Curio's design, technology and capability teams can support what comes next, but our advice doesn't depend on selling a predetermined solution. We recommend the path the evidence supports, then help you decide how it should be delivered.

If you'd like help with the build, our learning design and learning technology teams can pick up where the strategy leaves off.

Common questions

Questions about our strategy work

How long does a strategy engagement take?
Most run six to 12 weeks, depending on how much research the decision needs. A focused market scan can take less. A full portfolio or operating model review takes longer.
Do you work alongside other advisers?
Yes. We often work next to a client's own planning or strategy team, or alongside other advisers on a larger program. We bring the learning, market and product expertise that generalist firms usually don't have in-house.
Will you recommend your own products or services?
Only if they're the right answer. Our advice doesn't depend on selling a build, and we'll tell you when the best option is to fix what you already have.
What evidence do you use?
Market and competitor data, labour market signals, learner and stakeholder interviews, and your own enrolment, cost and performance data. Every recommendation shows the sources behind it.
Do you only work with universities?
No. We also work with TAFEs, professional bodies, government agencies and employers building workforce capability.
What does a strategy engagement cost?
It depends on scope, but most start with a fixed-price proposal after a short scoping conversation.
Get in touch

Make the next learning decision with better evidence

Bring us the question, the competing options or the initiative that needs a stronger case.

Let's talk