What future do you see when you look back at 2025?

04 December 2025

Andrew Crisp looks back over 2025 to discover there’s more to the future than AI.

For some, 2025 will be the year AI took off in higher education.  There has been much debate about the impact and implications of AI.  I can’t remember a conference where there isn’t at least one session where AI is discussed.

Yet looking back four themes have dominated our work this year – executive education and lifelong learning, differentiation, student experience and internationalisation, albeit with AI lurking in the background.  AI can’t be ignored – our current study with EFMD, 4uni-solutions and FullFabric will ensure it’s firmly on the agenda again at next year’s EFMD Dean’s conference.

The year has been bookended by lifelong learning.  We started the year working on a report with the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning, examining how universities can make lifelong learning central to their strategies.  Perhaps more than anything else, it is systems and structures that are key to success.  Delivering lifelong learning is not the same as delivering degrees, learners want to study differently, for different qualifications and fees may be tiny, or in some cases, even non-existent.  The need for a new business model is clear, but is more difficult to deliver.

And towards the end of the year, we’ve returned to the theme of lifelong learning with our report, What Women Want, examining the impact of and potential for business education in women’s careers.  While employers recognise the barriers that women face in the workplace and the potential power of business education, many seem to think that it’s not a problem they face.  Key will be finding a way for business schools to help women by growing understanding among employers of the potential across their entire workforce by investing in flexible learning and development.

Differentiation was key to the founding of CarringtonCrisp and remained a theme in 2025.  Again, linked to executive education, a project early in the year, highlighted the importance of brand.  Working with a school that leads globally on undergraduate provision in a particular field, the challenge was how to position them as they sought to grow an executive education offer. 

The brand challenge was potentially even greater on a university-wide project that will come to fruition in the new year.  While many in academia will know the university, beyond it was less well known, with the institution recognising ‘the need to be bolder and better at standing out from the crowd’.  Sometimes branding is seen as a luxury in higher education, but helping stakeholders, current and potential, to understand what you have to offer and the benefits it can bring, is more important than ever as competition grows across geographies and through technology.

One option for differentiation is the student experience, whether in the classroom or beyond.  At the GMAC Masters Leadership Symposium in March, CarringtonCrisp presented findings from our Tomorrow’s Master’s study, highlighting the impact of mental health issues amongst learners.  A study in the UK has found mental health matters reported by students were seven times higher in 2021/22 compared with a. decade earlier.  Tomorrow’s Masters found 18% of prospective students prioritised mental health support for students when choosing where to study.

Preparation for study is key to overcoming some of the mental health issues that students face.  Moving away from home, making new friends, living in a different environment, all create pressures which some students find it harder to deal with than others.  Ensuring a strong student experience whether it is in or out of the classroom will be part of a school’s brand identity.

Yet in all of this, perhaps the overriding theme of the year has been internationalisation, but not necessarily as it has been in the past.  Our Business of Branding study in the summer revealed the USA had dropped from first to third most preferred country for studying business.  More recent data from the New York-based Institute for International Education seemed to suggest robust demand for study in the USA, reporting a 5% increase in international students in 2024/25 compared with the previous year.  However, when you dig into the data, 21% of the students are on OPT (work after graduation); graduate enrolment actually declined 3%.

For a growing number of business schools, internationalisation now in part means opening a remote campus.  A recent project at CarringtonCrisp threw a light on the enormous growth in international universities setting up campuses in the UAE, with others establishing partnerships in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and across the region.  UK and Australian universities are leading a charge to establish campuses in India, and Hong Kong University has acquired a building for a campus in Barcelona.  Defining internationalisation in higher education is becoming ever more complex.

In September, CarringtonCrisp was delighted to support the first India-UK Business School dialogue, set up by CharteredABS.  While much of the conference focused on the opportunities for schools looking to build partnerships and set up campuses in India, there was also notable interest from Indian schools looking to grow beyond India, whether in student recruitment or in some cases, physical campuses.

While AI may have grabbed the headlines, 2025 has been about so much more.  Expect more of the same in 2026 as business schools and universities deal with uncertainty and complexity to build, deliver and sustain compelling visions for the future.