New HEPI Report: New choices: Revisiting futures for higher education in England

England’s higher education system is drifting into an uncertain future. This is not through deliberate reform, but through mounting financial pressures, technological disruption and changing public expectations. A new HEPI report argues that the sector has reached a pivotal moment where avoiding difficult decisions is no longer an option.

In New Choices: Revisiting Futures for higher education in England, Professor Sir Chris Husbands revisits the scenarios he first set out in 2024 and concludes that events have overtaken even his earlier predictions. The report argues that universities are now facing an ‘unstable hybrid’ future, driven not only by worsening financial pressures but also by the rapid rise of generative AI, profound changes in student behaviour and declining public confidence in the value of higher education.

Rather than simply diagnosing the problems, the report explores what a sustainable higher education system could look like in the years ahead. It envisages a more differentiated sector, with globally competitive research universities, regionally focused institutions, networked local providers and specialist universities each playing distinct roles. It also argues that both universities and government must confront difficult questions about funding, regulation, research, international students and institutional restructuring before financial pressures force decisions by default.

Offering a timely assessment of one of the most pressing challenges facing UK higher education, the report provides a thought-provoking vision of the choices that lie ahead. Click here to read the full press release and download the report.