2015 was a particularly important year for UK Higher Education with the publication of the Government’s Green Paper, Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice. The year also welcomed a range of influential research, most of which concentrated on two key issues, the value of HE and internationalisation.

From the start, 2015 in Higher Education had already signalled towards the importance of value for money and efficiency in the sector, as work coordinated by a wide range of HE organisations has been going on for some years. UK Universities published its report Efficiency, Effectiveness and Value for Money led by Prof Sir Diamond in February, which presented evidence of and recommendations to improving student experience and quality of teaching.

In May, a significant report, London Calling: International Students’ Contribution to Britain’s Economic Growth, was published by London First & PwC, which raised the profile of HE as an incredibly important export, and brought attention to the unwelcoming attitude of Government towards international students. The research highlighted the contribution international students brought to the UK economy, with the net benefit of £2.8 billion.

In July, University and Science Minster Jo Johnson unveiled the Teaching Excellence Framework, while concerns on international students overstaying their welcome continued to be debated amongst government departments, and other industrial and academic representatives.

August was a particularly busy month. The hot topics were very much surrounding (1) the value of internationalisation and international students (amidst Home Secretary Theresa May’s attack on foreign students and whether they should be included in immigration targets), (2) whether Higher Education is worth the cost in terms of employability, and (3) how the Brexit will impact HE and research. These topics continue to be critical to the future of HE, and ultimately, the decisions will affect the entire country, including our relationship with the international community.

We also saw quite a few report publications, such as the National Student Survey results 2015; the EUA’s Trends 2015: Learning and Teaching in European Universities; and the CIPD report, Over-qualification and skills mismatch in the graduate labour market.

The summer months led to autumn September largely focusing on international concerns. We saw UK universities slip down in global ranking, and international student numbers decline as they headed to other countries more welcoming, a response to our stringent visa policies. Theresa May was targeted as putting UK universities’ competitiveness at risk. Meanwhile, talk on the Green Paper aiming to simplify the HE landscape caused concern, and tension loomed as HE representatives awaited the content of its release. In the UUK Annual Conference, Jo Johnson had implied that considerable changes will be proposed in the way HE operates, also implied academics prioritise research over teaching.

September also saw Hepi published their paper comparing the UK HE system with Germany in Keeping up with the Germans: What can Germany teach the UK on fees, migration and research?, which again opened up discussion about tuition fees, HE internationalisation and the success of international research collaboration.

The start of the new academic year in October predominantly focused on the Green Paper speculation, and how best to shape the UK HE landscape. A leaked government briefing about the Comprehensive Spending Review’s aim to reshape BIS through a significant reduction in budget led to renewed concern over the survival of research councils and HEFCE.

Party conferences also took place in October. The Labour Conference held in Brighton spoke of no more tuition fees, while the Conservative Conference in Manchester got media attention as Theresa May vilified immigrants in her controversial speech. Meanwhile, Hepi published a report claiming that student impact on the General Election was less than expected.

Another significant publication, Higher, Further, Faster, More, was presented by Policy Exchange, which suggested HE funding be cut to save FE.

November felt like the month that everyone involved in HE had been waiting for. The Green Paper was finally published, focusing on the TEF, transparency, simplification of the HE sector, the opening of the sector to new providers, and widening participation. The Nurse Report also came out, recommending that a centralising body, the RUK, be created help the research councils focus more on their tasks rather than be burdened with administrative duties.

December was another busy month of publications relevant to HE. Hepi published a report looking into student opinion of the 2017 Referendum, exploring their awareness of the Brexit campaigns and whether they are likely to vote.  There was also the release of Hefce’s Prevent Strategy Report reflecting the impact of radicalisation on HE politics.

BIS published Further education: impact of skills and training on the unemployed which recognised Further Education’s ‘substantial impact’ in getting the unemployed back to work.

The Welcome Trust also released a new study looking at researcher engagement with the public, titled Exploring the Barriers of Public Engagement by UK Researchers, concluding that researchers over the past decade have made significant changes in public engagement. Universities UK published 2015’s Pattern and Trends in UK Higher Education, which covered how the UK HE sector has changed over the past decade.

The UCAS End of Cycle Report 2015 was also released, revealing how tuition fees, immigration policy and other reforms have impacted application and acceptance rates.

The academic year closed with the Immigration Bill 2015-16 progressing through parliament, ending on a positive note in which the House of Lords raised concerns about imposing restrictions to talented individuals, and recommending Government does not include international students in the net migration target.

This and the coming years will be of particular interest as we look at how policy reforms will impact the sector through proposals set out in the Green Paper, and cuts made through Osbourne’s CSR. The inevitability of further HE marketisation means that HEIs will need to rethink their approach to remaining both competitive and institutes of excellence. They will also need to develop innovative strategies to compete with the emerging global HE sector, as students begin to turn to countries arriving new to the sector.