Education Growth Strategy

Education Growth Strategy

This strategy creates a funnel that transforms educational outreach into industry influence, in alignment with our Marketing’s customer journey: our efforts drive awareness and generate evangelism, and as students move to the workforce, accelerate consideration and facilitate conversion. We Expand Education Outreach across four parallel strategic areas: Establishing Preference with institutions, Accelerating Enablement by educators, Generating Advocacy among students, and Nurturing Growth towards Influenced Professionals.

The model allows us to grow each segment of the ecosystem through two complementary pathways: expanding the upstream segment (institutions enable educators, educators enable students) and expanding through targeted programs for that specific audience. Students ultimately become Influenced Professionals entering the workforce, carrying forward the skills, tools, and methodologies they learned, creating long-term market impact through the natural education-to-career pipeline.

flowchart LR
  subgraph growth["Education Growth"]
    ii["Institutions Increase"]:::segment
    ei["Educators Increase"]:::segment
    si["Students Increase"]:::segment
    ip["Influenced Professionals"]:::segment

    outreach("Expand Education Outreach"):::area
    prefer("Establish Preference"):::area
    enable("Accelerate Enablement"):::area
    adopt("Generate Advocacy"):::area
    grow("Nurture Growth"):::area

    outreach-->prefer
    outreach-->enable
    outreach-->adopt
    outreach-->grow
    prefer-->ii
    ii -->ei
    enable-->ei
    ei-->si
    adopt-->si
    si & grow---C[ ]:::empty-->ip
  end

  classDef segment fill:#9370DB,stroke:#9370DB
  classDef area color:#6b4fbb, stroke:#9370DB
  classDef empty width:0px,height:0px;

KPIs

Segment	Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
Institutions	GitLab for Education Quarterly Active Seats, MAU (Monthly Active Users)
Educators	TBD Number of Educators, TBD Number of Courses
Students	TBD Number of Ambassadors
Influenced Professionals	Number of Contributors, Number of Contributions, TBD Number of customer contacts

Priorities

We’re prioritizing the Institutions segment and the following items across the key areas to maximize our impact within our current capacity. While all initiatives are valuable, this focused approach allows us to drive meaningful change more effectively.

Audience	Status
Institutions	Expansion
Educators	Roadmap
Students	Roadmap

Key Area	Initiative	Status
Expand Education Outreach	Events	Ongoing FY26Q4
	Referenceable materials	Ongoing FY26Q4
	Organic Campaigns	Ongoing FY26Q4
Establish Preference	Compliance Support and Integrations	Roadmap
	Strategic Partnerships	Roadmap
	Sponsored Activities	Roadmap
Accelerate Enablement	Teaching Resources & Curriculum Materials	Roadmap
	Faculty Development	Roadmap
	Accessible Support	Roadmap
Generate Advocacy	Student Ambassador Program	Roadmap
	Student Engagement	Roadmap
	Benefits & Perks	Roadmap
Nurture Growth	Contributors Ecosystem Transition Development	Roadmap
	Career Development	Roadmap
	Professional Networking	Roadmap

Segment nurturing

Build sustainable communities within each segment of the education ecosystem through structured lifecycle management. Define clear member journeys with onboarding, engagement touchpoints, and retention strategies that create self-reinforcing cycles where members become champions who naturally recruit and support new participants.

Expand Education Outreach

Increase awareness and drive engagement with institutions, educators and students. Our outreach efforts establish the foundation for all subsequent growth by making our products, programs, and resources visible and accessible to potential adopters.

Events

Create opportunities for connection and discovery through events. Host engaging gatherings to foster connections, share knowledge, and celebrate achievements creating memorable touchpoints that accelerate relationship building and trust. Participate in strategic events to build awareness, showcase the program’s value, and attract new members.

Referenceable materials

Provide credible, shareable content that demonstrates value and reduces evaluation barriers. Quality materials enable educators and administrators to make informed decisions and advocate internally for adoption.

Online Engagement

Meet educators and students where they already spend time, build community in public spaces, and amplify success stories through creative campaigns and initiatives. This includes digital presence, community celebrations, promotional activities, and strategic touchpoints that enable organic discovery and peer-to-peer recommendations.

Establish Preference

Position our platform as the preferred choice through strategic partnerships, credibility building, and alignment with educational goals. Early exposure in the educational ecosystem increases perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, creating a strategic advantage through accelerated technology acceptance.

Strategic Partnerships

Build meaningful relationships with governments, educational advisers, leading EdTech companies, and other influential organizations in the educational ecosystem. Partnerships provide legitimacy, extend reach, and can help achieve scale through aligned initiatives and shared audiences.

Compliance Support and Integrations

Remove institutional barriers by ensuring our platform meets educational standards, privacy regulations, and supports seamless integration with existing educational technology systems. Compliance and integration capabilities are essential for institutional adoption and sustained usage.

Sponsored Activities

Support and sponsor activities that elevate educational excellence, recognize outstanding achievements, and align our brand with institutional values. Sponsorships demonstrate commitment to the education community, creating visibility and goodwill, and help attract new members to the program through increased awareness.

Accelerate Enablement

Empower educators with high-quality resources, training, and support that enable them to teach more students effectively. Enablement reduces barriers to classroom adoption and improves teaching outcomes.

Teaching Resources & Curriculum Materials

Provide ready-to-use, pedagogically sound materials that reduce preparation time and improve teaching quality. Educators are more likely to adopt when high-quality resources are immediately available.

Faculty Development

Curate and highlight relevant content, materials, and learning pathways that build educator confidence and competence. Connect educators to training resources, best practices, and guidance that help them effectively integrate new tools and pedagogical approaches into their teaching.

Accessible Support

Build educator confidence and ensure they can quickly resolve issues and find answers independently through responsive support and self-service resources. Accessible help reduces frustration and prevents abandonment.

Generate Advocacy

Create passionate student advocates who actively promote the platform to peers and carry forward their skills and preferences into professional careers. Student advocacy drives organic growth and long-term market influence.

Student Ambassador Program

Empower student leaders giving them the means to help their peers develop the skills they need for the transition to industry, and to evangelize the platform on their campuses to build grassroots momentum. Student ambassadors provide authentic peer-to-peer recommendations that resonate more than institutional mandates.

Student Engagement

Provide meaningful opportunities for students to engage deeply with the platform beyond coursework through competitions, challenges, collaborative projects, and community participation. Engaged students become advocates who share their positive experiences.

Benefits & Perks

Provide students with exclusive access to resources and offerings that enhance their learning experience and demonstrate tangible value. A compelling benefits package increases adoption, retention, and creates goodwill that translates into organic advocacy.

Nurture Growth

Sustain long-term growth through retention, deepening engagement, and creating feedback loops that continuously improve the ecosystem. Growth nurturing ensures the community remains vibrant and valuable over time.

Contributors Ecosystem Transition

Create pathways for students to transition into the wider GitLab contributors ecosystem, where they can contribute to production systems used by thousands of customers worldwide. This provides meaningful portfolio-building opportunities and career acceleration while deepening their connection to GitLab.

Career Development

Connect platform skills directly to career outcomes through verifiable credentials, career resources, and opportunities that accelerate their transition to the workforce. Career alignment increases student motivation and creates advocates in the professional world.

Professional Networking

Facilitate connections and cross-pollination with the wider GitLab community. Connecting students with industry professionals, GitLab team members, and experienced community members accelerates professional development and creates lasting relationships.