NEW on Wonkhe: OfS has published board papers from December. Think partnership not punishment bit.ly/4sn1XIf

NEW on Wonkhe: Iran’s students are again at the centre of nationwide unrest bit.ly/4pozv6f

Best of 2025: The discussions that took place aimed at balancing university fees and migration numbers showcased a renewed commitment to addressing youth issues post-Brexit, highlighting both challenges and opportunities that arose throughout the year.

Best of 2025: Prof Alice Sullivan claimed that the University of Bristol failed to protect her right to freedom of expression after a protest disrupted her gender lecture.

Best of 2025: The debates over higher education funding focused on fees and maintenance, but events in 2025 revealed significant underlying issues as Jim Dickinson explored the complexities of governmental financial strategies in higher education.

Best of 2025: The Department for Education (DfE) set out how it delivered on its promise to "raise the standards of teaching" in universities across England, as Jim Dickinson detailed the need for a thoughtful approach to funding and quality assurance in higher education.

Best of 2025: Gemma Ahearne showed how drawing on lived experience, playful pacing, and radical care kept students engaged and in the room.

Best of 2025: Commuter students were everywhere, often engaged and invaluable, but largely invisible. Susan Kenyon and Mack Marshall reflected on the insights that emerged from the commuter students series and formed an agenda for supporting commuters.

Best of 2025: As the Office for Students published its investigation into a private provider that collapsed, the OIA's Charlotte Corrish raised questions about the protections for students when the student loans tap was turned off.

Best of 2025: Awarding gaps based on ethnicity were a concern in 2025, but the ways in which they were conceptualized, analyzed, and addressed proved to be far from perfect. Katharine Hubbard suggested a more nuanced approach.

Best of 2025: It was explored why higher education institutions sought to grow home student numbers despite incurring losses on each, with Debbie McVitty analyzing the financial implications.

Best of 2025: In World Autism Acceptance Month, Hannah Breslin and Jon Rowlands reflected on their experiences of sharing and adapting to their late autism diagnoses.

Best of 2025: Paul Ashwin argued that the Office for Students’ proposed strategy put government priorities into the mouths of students.

Best of 2025: Paige Rivers explored the realities of being a student nurse and considered a renewed health agenda for government and the sector.

Best of 2025: Months of student-led protests in Serbia reached a climax, as Jim Dickinson reviewed the significant roles played by both "official" and "unofficial" student representatives amid the growing political unrest and challenges faced by the country.

Best of 2025: The five things universities did to cut costs, as outlined by David Kernohan, illustrated that despite the unique circumstances of each institution, financial challenges prompted similar strategies across the board.

Best of 2025: Young people in coastal and rural areas missed out on higher education. Graeme Atherton called for access work to reconnect with geography.

Best of 2025: The UK government launched a "gap year" scheme aimed at school and college leavers, providing a taste of military life in the Army, Royal Navy, or RAF without long-term commitment.

Best of 2025: Reporting on focus groups with students in Nottingham for the UPP Foundation's latest report, Will Yates found a new belt-tightening normal.

Best of 2025: As universities were urged to provide support to struggling students, Jim Dickinson reviewed the evidence and found that the system of rapid graduate production had a key potential role in causing pressure and harm.

Best of 2025: The government quietly revised its definition of a duty of care in universities, as Bob Abrahart argued it needed more clarity.

Best of 2025: An eye-catching headline about institutional governance got Simon Varwell thinking about the roles that students played.

Best of 2025: James Coe examined what could be done about those annoying, frustrating, slightly wrong, but not entirely terrible issues that accumulated to make for a bad student experience.

Best of 2025: The postgraduate population grew significantly, yet there was a noticeable lack of interest in regulating this area of higher education and ensuring equitable outcomes. Katharine Hubbard urged the sector to pay more attention.

Best of 2025: Debbie McVitty argued that successful governance needed to manage tensions between the academic and business ends of institutions.

Best of 2025: A new DSIT report shed light on the connection between an unequal workforce and economic growth, revealing key insights from James Coe.

Best of 2025: Molly Pemberton reflected on how active student citizens successfully lobbied for improved transport for commuter students.

Best of 2025: Scotland's free fees policy faced mounting challenges as public support wavered and funding pressures intensified, highlighted in Hannah Garrow's insightful argument.

Best of 2025: The fundamental changes to the system for student support in England had been long overdue, as Jim Dickinson argued for reforms to alleviate poverty and enhance opportunities for students.

Best of 2025: Anna Bull and Kelly Prince explained a new toolkit that offered practical guidance to address the unique risks that PGRs faced over harassment and sexual misconduct.

Best of 2025: Susan Kenyon considered who commuter students were, what they needed, and why the sector should have cared.

Best of 2025: The latest student money and wellbeing survey from Blackbullion highlighted the severe impact of student poverty on learning and experience, with calls for reform from Lee Elliot Major.

Best of 2025: The discussion around improving the agility of UK research became a focal point, as Anton Muscatelli and Miles Padgett analyzed its implications and identified the barriers that stood in the way.

Best of 2025: New research on regret explained why students made the wrong choices, as Jim Dickinson and Mack Marshall remained unconvinced that the benefits of hindsight had been realized.

Best of 2025: Paul Ashwin argued that the Office for Students’ proposed strategy put government priorities into the mouths of students.

Best of 2025: Students reflected on whether they had pursued rankings or combed through NSS spreadsheets when choosing universities, as Emmanouil Noikokyris and Emanuela Nova listened to and learned from the experiences of applicants.

Best of 2025: Kulvinder Singh explored how vital the classroom was for commuter students' belonging in a context of increasing transactional approaches to education.

Best of 2025: The Innovation and Research Caucus assessed what drove FEC recovery rates down and revealed what could be done about it. Stephen Roper and Tim Vorley presented the findings.

Best of 2025: Universities served purposes beyond market demands. Jim Dickinson asked if the pendulum between planning and markets swung back - and what it meant to protect student interests.

NEW on Wonkhe: As Serbia's student-led protest movement clears its first anniversary, Jim Dickinson reflects on a year of blockades, sonic weapons, and a new grammar of protest that defies easy categorisation buff.ly/K45NM6b

Best of 2025: Brooke Storer-Church and Ben Vulliamy argued that the government needed to address the limitations of competitive pressures in the sector to secure the financial stability and long-term impact of higher education.

Best of 2025: We were not the only country caught in debates about free speech on campus. Jim Dickinson and Mack Marshall reported back from their bus tour of Central Europe to discover how others resolved the tensions.

Best of 2025: The Office for Students published its investigation into the University of Sussex, which led to a record fine of nearly £600,000 for failing to uphold free speech and academic freedom.

Best of 2025: Jim Dickinson reviewed what happened with the great boomer wealth transfer and explained why it destroyed the social mobility power of higher education.

Best of 2025: Jim Dickinson explored whether a better student academic experience was possible with fewer academic staff, showcasing how one university adapted to significant cuts in innovative ways.

Best of 2025: International students were misled by false promises from recruitment agents, while constant changes to visa terms and post-study work arrangements represented a much deeper deception.

Best of 2025: Johnny Rich did not celebrate a 14 percent increase in engineering applications in the latest UCAS data, as sector capacity failed to rise in tandem.

Best of 2025: A national review found a raft of issues in how universities previously prevented and learned from student suicides, leading to evaluations of whether voluntary urges for change were ever sufficient.

Best of 2025: The student experience crossed a troubling threshold, as student numbers rose by 15.5 percent while their term time employment hours soared by an astonishing 79.6 percent.

Best of 2025: Antony Moss, Charlotte Ransom, Charlotte Adams, and Matt Myles-Brown shared how they challenged traditional assumptions about assessment fairness by abolishing penalties for late work.