Blogs

Based on recent actions, the OfS appears to accept the premise that public attention can shape provider behaviour. Its own principles, therefore, should require that attention to be leveraged according to evidence, risk and student interest.

Student insight: What is A-level results day really like?

Are the 2026 NSS results too good to be true? It's a fair challenge. At a time when universities are under unprecedented financial and operational pressure, why has student satisfaction increased across every NSS theme? In our latest analysis, we tested some of the most common explanations. The evidence points to a more interesting conclusion than many might expect.

It would be easy to file the OfS Business Plan 2026-27 alongside every other regulatory publication: skim it, note the deadlines, move on. That would be a mistake. Beneath the familiar language of quality, student protection and compliance sits a much bigger signal about what the regulator expects universities to look like over the next few years.

Higher Education news makes bleak reading right now. Funding pressures, demographic headwinds, the AI disruption, employer scepticism about degrees, falling applications in some markets. The list of structural challenges is long and pretty well-rehearsed – to the extent where there is an almost competitive quality to the collective pessimism. But pessimism, however sophisticated, is also a choice. And in 2026, there are genuine, non-trivial reasons for hope.

Treating empathy as a strategic lens shifts planning to a roadmap for real human outcomes, and that shift changes what we prioritise, how we measure progress, and fundamentally whether strategies are realised.

It’s fair to say it’s been a tricky last few weeks for England’s favourite Higher Education Regulator. Criticism has been coming thick and fast on everything from Free Speech to data returns, policy and process. And much of that criticism stems from the unanswerable question of what is the OfS actually for?

When universities talk about strategy, conversations often gravitate towards vision, ambition, and competitive positioning. Yet behind every successful strategy lies something quieter, more foundational. It's the ability to understand, trust, and use data with confidence.

The universities making real progress are not those with the most polished strategies, but those that use strategy as a working discipline. In these institutions, strategy shows up in how money is allocated, how performance is measured, how data informs decision-making, and how leadership is held accountable.

Innovation theatre is activity that looks like innovation, but doesn’t create lasting transformation. And it costs the sector a lot, not just in wasted time and resources, but in damaged trust, change fatigue, and missed opportunities for genuine innovation.

We cannot think of AI in terms of efficiency alone. If adoption is transactional, we could lose the qualities that make higher education transformative: empathy, trust, and human connection. The real challenge is not whether to adopt AI, but how to integrate it in ways that amplify the human experience.

The traditional hierarchical structures that have long characterised universities, with their clearly defined boundaries between academic and professional services, their departmental silos, and their established power dynamics, are increasingly proving to be barriers rather than enablers of innovation. Successful HE leadership recognises this reality and actively work to create more permeable, collaborative environments where innovation can flourish.

The future of higher education lies not in eliminating organisational structure, but in making it more permeable, responsive, and human-centred.

The most impactful innovations in higher education share a common foundation: they start with genuine understanding of user experiences rather than predetermined solutions. This shift from assumption-driven to user-centred innovation isn't just good practice—it's becoming essential for universities navigating an increasingly complex landscape of funding pressures, changing demographics, and evolving expectations.

Of late, I find myself increasingly reflecting on the importance of empathy in everything we do. We live in an ever-changing world with ever increasing expectations, opportunities, noise and threat. I keep coming back to the urgent need for empathy to be baked into our service design and delivery, into how we deliver change and into our leadership styles and how, in these times, we need to lean into this as much as possible.

The obsession for benchmarking in higher education is all about what everyone else is doing, and whether we are doing the same.

Change is challenging to navigate for everyone involved, but change also presents opportunities. Ultimately, embracing change is about finding balance between the discomfort it brings and the opportunities it presents.

The process of collating and submitting data regulatory returns is not unlike a Traitors Round Table.

What does it really mean to be in the middle of a university league table?

Understanding the different types can help individuals and organisations leverage these tools effectively.