Are England’s new higher education institutions delivering on their promises?

This blog was kindly authored by Kat Emms, Senior Research Manager at the Edge Foundation.

The 2017 Higher Education and Research Act promised to make it easier for new higher education institutions (HEIs) to enter the market, with the explicit aim of fostering innovation. When the Edge Foundation published its first report on these new HEIs in 2023, it aimed to understand whether newcomers could seize this unique opportunity. That research captured the ambitions, namely to offer student-centred learning, real-world curricula and workplace-like environments that would better prepare graduates for the challenges of 21^st-century life and work.

Ten years since the legislation was passed, and many new HEIs have now seen their pioneering cohorts graduate. Our 2026 report, Becoming Universities: The Progress of England’s New HEIs, involved speaking with students, graduates, lecturers, and senior leaders across six new HEIs to see what’s working and what challenges they still face in a constantly shifting higher education landscape.

The key finding is that new HEIs have largely stayed true to their original visions – disrupting traditional higher education norms with course structures and delivery that offer personalised, applied learning. In short, teaching approaches that seemed promising on paper are now delivering in practice. The widespread use of block-based learning, for example, allows for greater immersion in course content, helping to develop graduate knowledge and skills.

Across every institution we spoke to, personalisation was a defining feature. Small cohorts and class sizes enable a learning experience that is increasingly rare in traditional higher education – one where students and staff develop genuine, close-knit relationships. Students told us about lecturers who knew their names, understood their aspirations and subsequently tailored support to their needs. This created a psychological ’safety net’ where students felt able to take intellectual risks and receive responsive feedback tailored to the current stage in their learning journey.

Physical spaces within HEIs reflect this ethos. Rather than passive, mass lectures, classrooms are designed for active, discursive learning. Students spoke about environments that felt professional yet supportive, and where the structure of the day mirrored that of the modern workplace.

Course design is also highly distinctive. Courses are experientially-led, using pedagogies such as project-based learning. They involve hands-on tasks, problem-solving, live briefs and industry-linked projects – lending themselves perfectly to interdisciplinary approaches – another distinctive feature of new HEI courses. The world is not categorised into single disciplines, and the HEIs we spoke to reflected this by integrating humanities, social sciences and professional skills across the curriculum.

By situating theoretical concepts alongside authentic application and an emphasis on real employer partnerships, HEIs create opportunities to develop both technical knowledge and professional skills. Employer engagement ensures content is both up-to-date and addresses genuine workplace needs. Further supporting students’ professional readiness, teaching staff blend academic and industry experience and are actively encouraged to deliver innovative teaching approaches. This regular exposure to professional environments and practices leads to students and graduates who are consistently better-equipped with confidence and communication skills alongside subject knowledge. These are precisely the outcomes that Edge’s broader research on deeper learner and real-world learning advocates for.

The final distinctive element for learners is assessment. HEI courses move away from traditional exams towards methods more accurately reflecting how they will need to demonstrate competence in the workplace – portfolios, presentations, industry briefs and other creative outputs. Students we spoke to valued this variety, often noting that the lack of exams was a key selling point of their chosen provider.

Despite these strengths, the latest research identified tensions. Many can be seen as operational teething problems. For instance, some students struggle to fit workplace-like schedules around personal and part-time work commitments. Others struggled with the shift to new assessment formats. Additionally, many HEIs are still learning to balance practical skills delivery with theoretical study. And while the start-up-style culture of HEIs makes them appealing for learners, it also contributes to pressure on staff to innovate – an issue that calls for better institutional support around workload, recruitment and training.

At an institutional level, many of these problems are not insurmountable. The greater challenges lie in sustainable expansion and sector regulation. With growing concerns about graduate unemployment, HEIs currently provide a valuable alternative to traditional universities and programmes. But can they maintain the personalised, student-centred approaches that distinguish them from traditional university routes? Small cohorts enable the relationships that students value. However, the economics of these cohorts also increase pressure on HEIs to expand. With regulatory frameworks assuming standardisation, there is a risk that the distinguishing features of HEI provision may be stifled. And while they are committed to widening participation, particularly by targeting geographical ’cold spots’ that previously lacked higher education provision, what they can achieve is limited by public perceptions and awareness and the balance between broader admissions requirements and successful participation within the programme.

These latter challenges get to the heart of the issue – can genuine innovation survive in a system designed for stability? Our 2023 research highlighted these institutions’ ambitions to create something different. Our new report shows they have largely succeeded. But within current structures, success in delivering innovative higher education does not automatically translate to sustainability over time. The institutions themselves are doing their part, delivering on the promises they made when they entered the sector. They are proving that exam-free assessment, block teaching, workplace-like learning environments, and truly personalised support can produce graduates who are fully equipped for modern life and work. But what they now need is an ecosystem that supports rather than constrains their innovation.