Chief Executive's Report speech by Vivienne Stern MBE at Universities UK's Annual Conference 2026

Friends. Before I forget, I want to start with some thanks. Firstly, to Malcolm for his wisdom and guidance over the last year. I am learning a lot from you. I also want to thank our sponsors – Studiosity, Huron, UPP, Jisc, Clarivate, Unite Students, Perrett Laver, UCAS and EAB.

I also want to thank my brilliant colleagues at UUK. You work so hard, with energy and imagination and - thank goodness -  a reasonable sense of humour. What you do isn’t always visible to the outside world, but I know the people in this room appreciate it.

And finally, I want to thank you – our members. This is a pretty special organisation in my view – it is a privilege to represent you. However tough things get, I see you willing to support each other, and to devote scarce time and energy to helping us navigate an extraordinarily complicated policy landscape. 

We’re rarely out of the headlines – at least we’re not irrelevant! Some have you have been personally attacked – or have seen your institution caught in the crossfire of intense national debate. I cannot fail to mention Professor Jason Arday in this context, and the many Black academics who fear the spotlight will fall on them. I’m profoundly grateful for our ability to pull together when times are tough, to learn from each other, and act in consort.

When we are at our best, we harness the collective capability of the people in this room. That goes beyond university leaders, to sector agencies and increasingly to private sector partners. One of the things I am most proud of is our ability to stick a flag up, and rally all those who share in what we are trying to achieve to contribute towards a common cause. That – deliberately  - was the title of the strategy we set out three years ago. It was the spirit of the Blueprint, published two years ago. It is fundamental to the impact of the Transformation and Efficiency programme. It is the superpower we are drawing on to pursue our Reputation Strategy, unveiled this time last year - Future Universities, which provides the focus of our Conference this year. It is UUK’s purpose. 

Our ability, and willingness, to pull together has never been more important. As we look to the next decade, I think we can all feel the imperative to change. To quote something James Miller said a few weeks ago in introducing Universities Scotland’s strategy day, the question is whether we are prepared to lead the change ourselves? To lead the conversation or merely participate in it? That is what the next two days are about. 

When I took up this post four years ago, as a born optimist, I promised that I was going to get UUK off the back foot. I knew it would be hard. Every day, in each of the four nations of the UK, we get up determined to do one thing and find our day dominated by something else. The greater the financial pressure on the sector, the more the issues to which we have to react multiply. The political context, the frequent changes of leadership, the pressure created by the internal forces dividing the sector in a new era of scarcity – it’s hard to keep an eye on the horizon. I will frankly admit, it is challenging to gain political purchase in this landscape. 

But we are making progress. UUK’s Blueprint has proved durable in shaping thinking in the Westminster government, and was strongly reflected in the Post 16 White Paper; in the decision to increase English and Welsh fees in line with inflation; in the acceptance that the incentives driving the system may be perverse; in the recognition that there needs to be sector stewardship – our words; in the recognition of the need for a regulatory reset in England, now being led by Edward Peck, Polly Payne and Ruth Hannant. It was great to see the Westminster Treasury Select Committee echo our longstanding call for a better balance between the individual and the state in who pays for higher education. We’re slowly shifting the debate towards a focus on the public contribution towards the cost.

The Education Select Committee followed almost every point in our submission in their recommendations on the risk of insolvency in the English sector. The Home Office and UKVI are working with us on the application of the BCA metrics, having agreed to three workshops on data sharing and visa decision making. They have accepted our call for flexibility in the way compliance against new thresholds is assessed in the first year. We’re getting there on data. They have listened and engaged when institutions have faced the risk of losing their license. These are important wins. 

In Scotland, the Future Framework is an extraordinary cross-party exercise, jointly with the Scottish Government and Universities Scotland – leading, not reacting to the search for solutions to the sustainability conundrum. 

In Wales, a fee increase was secured. The current review has been extensively informed by the influence established long before the seismic election result and we look to Welsh colleagues’ example in how to build relationships with Reform UK. Colleagues in Wales are shaping the way their relatively new regulator, Medr, constructs its approach.

One of the most important features of the Blueprint was its emphasis on our agency. Yes, we asked our governments to step up, but the sector also took responsibility. We have consistently and actively embraced the need for change. The clearest expression of that in action is the Transformation and Efficiency Programme. With the Transformation and Efficiency taskforce, we identified 7 opportunities for the sector, ranging from making better use of shared services and infrastructure, to leveraging sector buying power, to radical collaboration. Since then, in Phase 2 of the programme, under Nigel Carrington’s leadership, UUK has overseen the delivery of a set of actions. Some of these rested with us. Many rested with universities themselves. We have increasingly seen evidence of innovative collaborations and initiatives you are leading to drive efficiency and sustain quality – demonstrating a willingness to think differently, and to collaborate in the national interest.

Other actions have been delivered by our partners in sector agencies like JISC; CUC; AHUA; UCISA and Advance HE. Recently QAA has joined the team, with a focus on professional bodies. Commercial partners like Mills and Reeve; KPMG; PWC; Lloyds; Huron; SUMS and Moorhouse have put an extraordinary amount of work in on a pro bono basis which has considerably expanded what we have been able to achieve. 

We are about half-way through this programme of work. There will be a third and final phase. There are some superficially dull, but subtly radical things afoot – like the development of a proposed common data framework which could open the door to a sector level student information system and much greater interoperability, if we can get it right. 

We wanted this to be a partnership with government, and that is exactly what it has turned out to be. We are waiting on the delivery of some of the actions we assigned to Ministers, including TPS flexibility and a Transformation fund, but the partnership is real. 

And so to reputation, and the topic of this conference. The next two days are future-focussed. Our belief is that the route to a stronger reputation lies in leaning into and confidently embracing change. We don’t just defend ourselves against our critics, we listen to them, taking action where it’s needed to build public confidence. We don’t just assert our continued relevance, we demonstrate our ability to evolve and remain relevant, as we have done in the past. 

Our contention is that universities are essential to a brighter future for the next generation. As the world changes, universities are changing too. They are working more closely with employers, focusing on the skills the country needs, helping communities and industries thrive, adapting how they teach to meet the needs of today’s learners. In research working on the edge of possibility on ideas that will translate into the next century’s economic opportunity. It is our ability to change and adapt, to evolve again as we have done many times in the past, which make this wonderful group of institutions a reason to be optimistic about the future of the UK.

Through this approach we believe we can turn challenge into opportunity. To present universities as a poster child for a sector capable of renewal in the national interest,  with the change being led by the sector itself. But make no mistake. We’re trying to outrun a hard reset. We’re looking over our shoulders at the US and we are in no doubt about what may be coming our way. Last week’s Reform party conference was a vivid reminder of this. 

The theme of the next two days is the 2030s. What do we want our sector to look like in the next ten years and the decades to come? Put differently: what will the nation need of us? Reputation, relevance, public and political support lie in rising to this challenge. The way I see it is that we have two choices: to let the political, economic and social forces shape us or to get on the front foot and shape the change ourselves. So I challenge you over the next 48 hours to think about what change we want as a sector, and what our country may need of us, and how we can achieve it, together. 

I think the future framing is also psychologically important. You have tough jobs and they are getting tougher. This isn’t a bad patch, it is a new normal. We need leaders who are energised, optimistic and capable of being imaginative, even when your back is pinned to the wall.  Thinking about what the future requires of us is a conscious effort to lift our eyes to the horizon and keep them there.

Which explains the last session of the day today. When I can’t see the wood for the trees, when I can’t see a way through, when I have lost heart, I turn to a book called The Art of Possibility. I have found it practically useful time and again. I can’t remember how this book came up in a conversation with James Williams, Principal of the Royal College of Music, but it turns out that he has known one of the co-authors, Ben Zander, for years. Through him, I had the opportunity to meet Ben in the early days of January this year – actually at a point when I was at a pretty low ebb. I told him how his book gave me a new way of seeing things when I was stuck, and that I wondered whether he could do the same for the collective leadership of our university system – because we need leaders who can see possibility, who  can remain creative and imaginative  - not even when times are tough, but especially when times are tough. He is not a bad conductor either.

The start of the academic year marks a moment for UUK to reflect on what we need to do differently too. I have read every single one of your comments in the most recent member survey. Thank you for taking the time to give such thoughtful feedback. I am delighted that 98% of you said we provided good or very good value for money. I am also struck by the fact that you generally feel very engaged in our work, but that many of you said that you would like to be more engaged. We know we need to be more transparent about how we reach decisions including through the Board, but we also have an opportunity to involve you to a greater extent in shaping our positions. 

There is a win-win here, especially given the enormous pressure we are under as a relatively small team dealing with a huge range of pressing issues.  So, this year, we will renew our focus on involving you in our work. I’ll say more about this in December. But we will also double down on our strengths. We’ll stay positive, optimistic about the future of this sector, and confident in what it can deliver. We will be robust when we need to be, but always constructive. We’ll keep ruthlessly focussed on financial sustainability and improving the reputation of the sector: our twin goals. 

Next year feels like a landmark year. 30 years since devolution; 10 years since HERA. I also have a feeling that the twenties will be written about in the history books as the start of a different and dangerous age. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about my hometown recently. The University of Leicester was established as a war memorial to those who died. The war ended on 11 November 1918, and on 12 November, Dr Astley Clarke wrote to the local paper to announce the creation of a Leicester university fund, with the university coming into being as a university college in 1921. There is a story of Astley Clarke taking the five pound notes donated to this fund, money that was donated by grieving parents and widows. It is encapsulated in the motto: ut vitam habeant – ‘that they may have life’. The reason I keep returning to this is I think the 30s will be a fearful decade. We can draw strength from these creation stories – from the fact that your institutions were created by people who knew that universities were a vital mechanism for change in turbulent times and that cities needed us. They still do.