It must be that time of year again! Except that ‘that time of year’ gets earlier and earlier. I liked it better when Studiosity timed their forum to coincide with Star Wars day, but that might just be me.
Nick Hillman from the Higher Education Policy Institute must have been a hit last year, because he was first up this year with a new ‘State of the Nation’ report which was, once again, excellent. Some highlights:
- The 2026 HEPI Generative AI Survey (my first photo), shows near universal use of Gen AI tools among students at 95%, with 94% using it in some capacity related to completing their assessments. And yet, only 48% reported that staff were supporting their development of AI skills. Also of concern is the stat that 15% of students are using AI for companionship.
- The slide on relative earnings by education level (second photo) clearly shows that there is still a great deal of value in getting a tertiary education, but that little red dot showing the relative earnings level for people without upper secondary level of education is terrifying in its implications, and demonstrates the massive problems we have with inequality in the UK.
- The net benefit of international students on the UK economy is huge, and has grown to £37.4 billion.
- The public massively overestimates rates of student regret – they guess 40%, when in reality it is 8%.
- And to end on a positive note, everyone across the political spectrum (yes, even Reform voters), feel more generally positive towards universities than negative.
Next, Vivienne Stern from Universities UK gave a talk on the immediate issues facing the sector, cautioning that we are in danger of getting caught up in near-term issues and debates, instead of looking at the wider systemic issues, which ultimately all go back to chronic underfunding. She shared the fact that 24 universities in England were currently in ‘intensive care’, meaning they are close to insolvency, and expects this to double in the next 2-3 years.
That was a lot on the sector in general, but the morning was capped off with Studiosity’s main briefing which was delivered by Garnet Berry who presented on Validate and where Studiosity are taking the company next. I won’t say too much about this, having had a preview of the service a few weeks ago, but I did get to see more detail and screenshots of the Validate interface working inside Studiosity.
After we reconvened after lunch, the afternoon was handed over to a series of presentations and talks from Studiosity’s UK partners. I was struck by how similar the experiences of UWE Bristol and Greenwich University were to Sunderland’s. UWE reported the same issues with an attainment gap between white and BAME students that we have, and their high levels of uptake in Health matches our own experience. Similarly, Greenwich reported that they have found getting their Business School onboard has also been a challenge. On Studiosity+, UWE reported that since switching over to Studiosity’s AI powered service they have seen 4 times as much usage, though noted a slightly lower student level of satisfaction. However, coinciding with this was the inclusion of Studiosity in their new module templates, which will inevitably have helped drive use.
Leave a Comment