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Stewart Watts

“Higher education faces challenges across the globe—from infrastructure to immigration and retention to return on investment (ROI). That’s why we’re seeing various initiatives being introduced, including significant investments into technology and content, in a bid to stabilise the sector and meet the evolving needs of the modern learner.”

Stewart Watts
Senior Vice President, EMEA and APAC
D2L

Challenges higher education
is up against

Recruitment, retention and ROI

Encouraging more young people to pursue higher education is becoming a common goal worldwide. The European Union (EU) is on course to exceed its target of 45% graduates among young adults by 2030. The UK’s target is for 70% of young people to continue in some form of tertiary education by 2040.

Unfortunately, undergraduates can find themselves up against a range of hurdles, including punitive interest rates on student loans, high living costs and competitive job markets. That is why helping students to feel confident that they are getting the best possible education and experience is important.

To help students make their choice, institutions are poring over everything from teaching quality and outcomes to welfare and overall satisfaction.

The European Universities Initiative, for example, aims to establish alliances between higher education institutions from across the EU and help encourage them to work with partners from the public and private sectors, to help solve societal challenges. These include concerns students often grapple with, such as competitiveness and employability.

A recent report from Universities UK outlines a similar goal.

70%

of UK population continuing studies (2040 target)

Icon of a teacher standing in front of class

45%

graduates among young adults by 2030

A more diverse student population

Increasing access to higher education for students from diverse backgrounds is another ambition for many countries. It is a key goal in South Africa, for example, as the sector faces significant barriers around affordability, connectivity, access to technology and infrastructure instability.

In the UK, the personal statement will be dropped for university applications submitted through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), starting in 2026. This is an effort to level the playing field for applicants, with advocates such as Lee Elliot, a professor of social mobility at Exeter University, calling it “a barometer of middle-class privilege”.

Professor speaking to students in a lecture hall

Icon of someone pointing at whiteboard teaching

A stretched workforce

Staff-to-student ratios in the higher education sector vary across the EU. In Italy the rate is 1:21, whereas in the UK it is 1:13. The former chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University has called for “tough choices” to be made to help improve efficiency and reduce costs while safeguarding teaching quality, supporting educators and bettering the student experience.

Unfortunately, lecturer apathy and burnout has been an issue in recent years and the expectations being placed on higher education can have a significant effect on those delivering that education.

 

An icon graph showing how there is a 1:13 teacher student ratio in the UK and a 1:12 teacher to student ratio in Italy

A reduction in foreign students

In the UK, a decline in the number of international students—due to changes in immigration policy—has also had financial implications. For some institutions, a significant proportion of their income has derived from international student tuition fees. One report suggests that a number of universities that rely heavily on international student enrolments, face “a material risk of closure” unless they can commit to drastic cost savings, or consider mergers over the next few years—forecasting that as many as 40% may currently be in deficit.

There are signs this can affect institutions in other countries, and in Europe too. In the Netherlands, the government announced plans to slash €1 billion from the higher education budget. This includes drastic cuts to Nuffic, the national organisation that supports international students.

40%

of UK universities may currently be in deficit

Union Jack

€1 billion

are planned to be slashed from the Dutch government’s budget