Take a look back at the year's biggest headlines and discover what made 2025 tick

Welcome to the penultimate QS Midweek Brief for 2025, and the final QS Insights Magazine for the year. This month, we’re taking a look back at some of the headlines that shaped the year. From artificial intelligence to university closures, skills development to the evolution of business schools, there’s been plenty to discuss.

This week, we look at two of the throughlines from the year (read the other two in the online edition), and introduce you to some of the finalists from last week’s Reimagine Education Awards.

Stay insightful,
Anton John Crace
Editor in Chief, QS Insights Magazine
QS Quacquarelli Symonds

Year in review

By Anton John Crace

2025 was another significant year for global higher education. While we didn’t experience the types of monumental shifts that we faced at the turn of the decade, namely – COVID 19 in 2020 and gen AI in 2022 – that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The (comparative) calm of 2025 meant that the sector had more time to reflect on its past and consider the future than in recent years. In fact, if we had to choose one word to describe the year, it would be “evolution”. Our understanding of where the sector is placed has evolved, rather than having been revolutionised as has frequently been the case.

Going over the headlines and major stories from the past 12 months, we’ve picked out four of the running themes throughout the year that we think typify what 2025 will be remembered for:

• Finances, closures and mergers
• Collaboration
• Student choice
• Artificial intelligence (the good, the bad and the ugly)

In each of those themes, the story not only evolved over time, but continues to evolve now.

Finances, closures and mergers

The past decade’s (or longer in some instances) concerns around funding and university finances continued throughout 2025, but a significant maturation of the conversation saw it begin to focus on mergers.

In October (Issue 34), we carried a piece looking at the extensive history of mergers in higher education, to find out they are not quite as new as we might have thought. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

In February (Issue 26), Collaboration for a Sustainable Future, a joint report by Jisc, UK’s digital, data and technology agency for higher education, and management accountants KPMG, there was unprecedented support for greater collaboration in the provision of services.

“The financially challenging circumstances of the current environment, while difficult, also present an opportunity for creativity and experimentation since institutions may be willing to consider approaches that would have previously been deemed too complicated to undertake,” the report read, before warning that the time was imminent to do so, lest “external factors mandate a particular course of action”.

The consequences of not acting fast enough became much clearer to the sector in both March (Issue 27) and August (Issue 32), when we asked two questions: who suffers the consequences of the financial landscape, and what happens when a university shuts its doors.

In the case of the former, staff layoffs showed that the burden was being shifted to workers. Interestingly, we also uncovered a paradox that juxtaposes the estimated losses that destination countries and therefore their universities would likely make, despite predictions that the total number of international students would grow.

As for what happens when a university or campus closes down, the answer was equally nuanced. Most immediately, staff and students need to be looked after, but there’s also the case of infrastructure and resources. In one case, around 500 books were scheduled to be destroyed until public outcry saved them.

Surprisingly, the closure of an institution also leaves many alumni without their identity. “Unlike most alumni communities that can rely on their alma mater for continuity, support and renewal, we’ve had to take on a more active role in building the community we want to see,” Adriel Yong, President of the Yale-NUS Alumni Club executive committee, told QS Insights.

By October, talk of mergers was so pervasive that we covered their history, and found out that not only do they have a longer past than one might assume, but their reasons for happening have evolved. Whereas mergers from a few decades ago had been focussed on creating new, comprehensive institutions, those of today are grounded in cost cutting.

Some told us that financial reasons for merging would cause harm and most were not buoyant on the idea, but others were somewhat more optimistic.

“The big question will really be whether institutional leaders have the courage to start these conversations and follow them through, rather than put their heads in the sand and cross their fingers that government funding will be reinstated or that international students will still come in droves [despite government policy],” one insider, who understandably wished to remain anonymous, told us.

And speaking of leaders brave enough to instigate the necessary conversations, we sat down with one who had done just that, and helped to oversee the merger of two well established Australian universities. Professor Jessica Gallagher helped oversee the merger of the University of Adelaide with the University of South Australia to form Adelaide University.

She told us that navigating cultures was one of the most difficult elements of achieving a merger, but that, “When you really pare it all back, our agendas and our ambitions are the same. We just have a different way of articulating that.”

Consequently, the team has now created a playbook for other institutions. “We've had so many visits from global institutions that are really interested in the change process,” she told QS Insights.

“I think we’ve generated some interesting learning points on how to develop and deliver a project of this nature that could be informative for other groups that decide to go down this path.”

Collaboration

While some took the Collaboration for a Sustainable Future report as a sign of potential mergers and a solution to financial challenges, others took it on face value, namely collaboration. Considering the number of articles that explicitly talked about it or at least touched on it throughout the year following the report, it should have come as no surprise that collaboration became an unofficial theme of the 2025 QS Higher Ed Summit: Asia Pacific in November.

After February, we learnt in April (Issue 28) just how useful neighbours can be in achieving research, academic and community outcomes. Excellence begets excellence, it would seem, with experts from the University of New South Wales, Australia, finding roughly a third of all universities in the world’s top 100 are located within 25km (15.5 miles) of another institution also within the top 100.

But it’s not only the top institutions that understand the value of working together. Regional clusters are popping up all over the world, taking forms that include government-led mergers and cross-border alliances, according to Jamil Salmi, a global expert in tertiary education.

Likewise, the economy can be bolstered because of collaboration. According to one study, “The Economic Impact of Universities: Evidence from Across the Globe”, by the US’ National Bureau of Economic Research: “Doubling the number of universities is associated with over 4 percent higher GDP per capita in a region.”

By May (Issue 29), the political applications of collaboration also became clearer. Rather than “soft power”, universities, through their research, academic and student internationalisation efforts, have been engaging in “knowledge diplomacy”. Doing so, has the potential for significant returns.

“Through such initiatives, Gulf nations export values like tolerance, innovation and development. Internationalisation of education is a potent tool in shaping global narratives,” Professor Anas Ratib ALSoud, Executive Director of the Association of Arab Universities told us.

“When countries host international campuses, engage in joint research, or recruit international students, they are not just educating, they are building bridges, exporting culture, and fostering long-term influence.”

The importantance of international collaboration will also only increase, at least in the short-term, according to a spokesperson from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD): “As geopolitical tensions rise, spaces for dialogue and cooperation become more important – not less.”

Anton is Editor in Chief of QS Insights Magazine. He has been writing on the international higher ed sector for over a decade. His recognitions include the Universities Australia Higher Education Journalist of the Year at the National Press Club of Australia, and the International Education Association of Australia award for Excellence in Professional Commentary.

Innovating from the edges

By Nick Harland

Walk through the lobby of Brown University’s life sciences labs and you’ll be confronted with something of a world first. Adorning the walls of this plush new space are two massive, live, breathing moss walls. These striking moss walls are unique because the others you’ll see are fake; treated with toxic chemicals that need constant replacement.

According to Jamie Mitri, founder of MossPure, the walls are ‘the world's only scientifically-certified air filter and stress relief device.’ They capture huge amounts of CO₂ and pollutants, work as an effective air filter and require no maintenance.

These moss walls are just one example of how higher education is innovating from the edges in small but impactful ways. All around the world, universities are finding creative ways to make their classes more inclusive and accessible, widen access to education and reduce their carbon footprint.

Supporting sustainability through innovation

Across the Atlantic, the University of East London are also looking at sustainability a little differently. They have committed to becoming net zero carbon by 2030, and while that alone isn’t exactly a unique pledge, it’s a commitment which goes beyond the box-ticking exercise you’ll find at many schools.

That’s because UEL have partnered with Siemens to deliver a range of energy-reducing measures around campus, including the installation of LED lighting, solar panels and electric vehicle charging points. UEL’s Head of Sustainability Nicola Hogan believes this unique commercial partnership allows them to be a little more bold in their green pledges.

"I think we're being a little bit more daring in our use of technology,” she tells QS Insights. “Because we've partnered with Siemens, we feel like we've got that extra level of support.”

Besides the energy-saving measures on campus, the school is also trying to plug the 'green skills gap' by introducing a Siemens Scholarship and launching an MSc in Sustainable Energy Engineering. According to Hogan, these measures also allow students to look at sustainability in a different light, long after they have left UEL.

"Students are saying they want to save the planet and they're passionate about sustainability, but they're not looking to make a career out of it,” she says. “We want students to leave UEL having really understood sustainability, how they can embed it into their careers and keep that thread of sustainability going even as they change careers."

UEL’s pledges are more ambitious than most schools, but Hogan believes they’re ‘well on track’ to achieve them. "We're doing pretty well. I'd say we're up there with the best of them."

Yet it’s not just in sustainability where higher ed is finding innovative ways to get ahead.

Innovating in inclusion and accessibility

Like many businesses founded during the pandemic, Sensations English had to pivot quickly. Their product was originally designed to support individual English language learners, but its adherence to Universal Design for Learning principles widened its appeal to a more diverse set of learners. Now, it’s used in higher education more widely.

The tool produces one news article a week based on current affairs, which has been fact-checked and modified for five different levels of English proficiency. Students can use these articles to improve their critical thinking skills, boost their comprehension and widen their range of vocabulary, with teachers able to assess the progress of each student on a granular level.

"It has a lot of scope for making adjustments – you can slow down audio, you can have a transcript, you can have captions, you can practice reading at different speeds... there's a lot of flexibility in it," explains Dr Gemma Williams, Sensations’ Product Manager and ELT Consultant. "So, although it isn't specifically designed for neurodivergent learners, it has the flexibility in it that really supports neurodivergent learning too.”

Universities are having to cater for an increasing number of learning styles, which Dr Williams believes is placing a lot of extra pressure on faculty. She says that Sensations brings some much-needed simplicity to an increasingly complex learning environment.

"Speaking to other lecturers, it seems there's a growing apprehension that there are more students coming in that require reasonable adjustments and accommodations. And it can feel a bit overwhelming on top of all of the lesson content. So, I think the way to deal with that is to build the flexibility in from the beginning."

That’s also part of the thinking behind Anthology Ally; a tool designed to improve the accessibility of online learning materials. Dr Amy Lomellini, the firm’s Director of Accessibility, says it is ”helping faculty see that accessibility is not complicated or overwhelming, but entirely achievable with the right guidance and tools”.

“Ally gives institutions a comprehensive view of their accessibility performance,” she explains. “Instructors receive an accessibility score for each file, along with step-by-step guidance to improve the content. This removes any guesswork and replaces it with practical insight. Over time this builds genuine understanding of accessibility, strengthens digital design skills and fosters a culture where accessible content creation becomes second nature.”

Like Sensations, Ally is also designed to improve accessibility from the ground up. It automatically generates alternative versions of the original learning material, allowing teachers to create accessible content in a short amount of time. According to Dr Lomellini, it’s also having a measurable impact on students’ learning experience.

“After the University of Staffordshire integrated Ally and established a requirement that all content achieve at least an 80 percent accessibility score, the university saw meaningful improvements. Student requests for help accessing documents decreased, and content downloads increased by 22 percent in a single year.”

In both cases, universities have been able to provide more accessible and inclusive content to its students without increasing the workload on its faculty. But what happens when a university doesn’t just want to support its own learners, but learners around the world?

Nick is a freelance copywriter, writer and founder of Big Bang Copy. As a freelancer, he has written content for Specsavers, Numan, Ricoh, Hearst and many more. He specialises in education, healthcare and music, but has written about everything from financial services to luxury travel. In 2021, he founded the copywriting agency Big Bang Copy. He works with a small network of freelancers on bigger copywriting projects such as website rewrites or marketing campaigns.