This quarter has been shaped by major policy shifts, new insights into the online learner experience and a wave of changes across the edtech sector, signalling a period of recalibration for online learning in UK higher education.

Whatever you think about the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), it presents an opportunity. No more, no less. And in a period when the overall mood music is depressing, windows of opportunity should be welcomed and possibilities for growing the sector explored.

This week has seen the release of Voice of the Online Learner UK edition from US online programme management (OPM) company Risepoint. For those in the know, you’ll be aware that this a UK version of a long running survey of online learners in the US. Most will know it as Wiley’s voice of the online learner, but the OPM arm of Wiley’s business was acquired in 2024 and the end result was a new brand called Risepoint.

Conferences like these are interesting both for what is said and for what isn’t said, as well as offering a small window into how universities are using the company’s products. They also provide an opportunity to reflect on how the company is positioning itself and give insights into its strategy, product development plans and priorities.

One can’t help but think that the UK higher education sector as a whole, including think tanks and the press, is, at times, mired in orthodoxy, constantly reaching for solutions that maintain the status quo or preserve the time-honoured campus experience.

With the summer firmly behind us and as we’re now well into autumn, it’s time to look back at some key developments in the last quarter in UK higher education, and online education in particular. While the summer generally tends to be a quieter period, there has been no shortage of relevant and noteworthy developments over the past quarter.

One of the issues with EdTech and AI product development at present is the tendency to focus too heavily on productivity hacks rather than elevating teaching and learning. This risks limiting the potential value considerably.

For Coursera, the challenge is one of credibility, not just growing learner numbers, but proving that its courses and credentials translate into meaningful skills and workplace impact.

These two considerations get to the heart of some overarching aspects of operating in this space: how you organise things internally to be successful, and how you present yourself externally to a prospective online student audience.

The challenge for universities is not just creating new provision, but building the organisational capabilities to make lifelong learning financially sustainable.

This quarter doesn’t necessarily present anything new but reinforces some established trends.

Given everything happening in UK HE, and the increasingly competitive nature of the online education market, the international TNE online market is only going to become more important.

Budgets are now tighter and the need for income generation greater, coinciding with increased appetite to develop new, shorter forms of online provision. Universities need to go into this with their eyes open and set themselves up for success.

Overall, this data highlights a positive trendline for online enrolments and flexible study, but it doesn’t support the hyperbolic headlines that sometimes accompany rises or falls in online numbers. It’s a case of steady progress rather than a surge.

This last quarter has seen a range of interesting developments, from announcements of new partnerships between OPMs and UK universities to significant changes within online education companies and more.

Over the years, I have analysed online programme management (OPM) companies and their partnerships with UK universities, tracking the dynamics of this evolving market. It is a contested and sometimes opaque space, meaning the debate around these companies and their partnerships with universities often lacks nuance and has, at times, been shaped by misinformation from within higher education itself.

If the sector wants to take a more nuanced view of these partnerships, it must move beyond the moral asymmetry and the tendency to cast private providers as convenient villains.

Not all companies, and not all partnerships, demonstrate a strong, prioritised focus on international online student recruitment, and the student numbers reflect this.

This year has been something of a paradox for the VLE market in UK higher education. While there has been plenty to report on within the big four companies that dominate this market, there have been barely any major changes by universities regarding which virtual learning environment (VLE) they use.

Those who are tempted to view the online international student market as a massive opportunity solely based on the large and appealing numbers often presented, really need to consider how pricing affects the total addressable market.