Future-proofing higher education: Overcoming 2025’s key challenges

Financially, universities are under pressure as tuition fees in England have been frozen at £9,250 since 2017, and although they will rise to up to £9,535 in the 2025/26 academic year, when inflationary erosion over the years is considered, this has squeezed per student funding each year. The impact is across the board, with courses and departments under threat, international student recruitment becoming harder to sustain, and research budgets being stretched thinner than ever. According to the Office for Students (OfS) by 2025-26, 72% of universities could be running at a deficit, and 40% may have less than a month’s cash reserves.

The process of onboarding thousands of students and staff every year, is a major administrative burden. Making sure users have the right access to resources they need is not only time consuming but costly. This is compounded by the ongoing challenges of account recovery, which eats up help desk resources, especially for remote users who often require support around the clock which impacts the student experience. Many institutions are also relying on outdated or bespoke IT infrastructure, often managed by long serving staff who may be nearing retirement, and beyond which maintaining legacy systems becomes an unsustainable expense.

Adopting Identity Governance technology can transform the onboarding process significantly. By streamlining workflows, universities can significantly reduce manual effort, ensuring staff and students are up and running quickly, reducing costs and improving user experience. Self-service account recovery eliminates the need for helpdesk calls and empowers the student to resolve issues independently – especially helpful at peak exam times. Transitioning to modern cloud-based solutions eliminates expensive legacy system maintenance and enables IT staff to focus on more strategic, valuable activities.

For students, the digital experience is increasingly becoming a defining factor in their university journey. They expect seamless, instant access to online tools and services that reflect the convenience they experience in their daily digital lives. For universities, meeting these high standards is no longer optional, it’s the expected bare minimum.

Ease of access is essential for everyone, regardless of their role – or even if they juggle multiple roles, like a postgraduate student who lectures undergraduates, or a staff member pursuing further study. Overcoming these challenges is provided through Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Single Sign-On (SSO) streamlining the student journey by enabling users to log in once and navigate between the different systems. It’s a smoother, more intuitive experience for students and staff but it also enhances the university’s accountability by providing clear, centralized control over access rights throughout the lifecycle of a student – from their point of enrolment to becoming alumni. Decentralized Identity is also able to provide greater control for students over their credentials, and how they share them with future employers – delivering them without the need for complex processes or repeated verifications.

Security remains one of the biggest challenges for universities, with weak credentials and insider threats continuing to account for many breaches. The Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 revealed that 90% of higher education institutions experienced impersonation attacks in the last year.

Compromised accounts or misuse by insiders can cause significant damage, and the rise of AI adds another layer of complexity, with its potential for impersonation, plagiarism, and fraud, particularly in remote learning environments where it’s more difficult to verify everyone. Universities must also safeguard their intellectual property, especially when they’re leading cutting-edge research, as cyberattacks and data theft are ever-present risks.

Meeting this challenge head on in 2025 relies on adoption of a zero-trust security model, which limits privileges and ensures minimal impact even if an account is compromised. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and risk-based security measures, like detecting unusual login behavior, reduce their vulnerabilities further. Tools for identity verification, especially for remote work or study, combined with AI-based risk management, provide an extra layer of protection. Robust monitoring systems are also essential to protect research data and reinforce a university’s reputation as a trusted leader in innovation.