QS Insights Magazine
Issue 36 December 2025
Year in review
Contents
The “Plus” factor
Work, demand, and social and business challenges are reshaping STEM programmes.
Navigating an AI saturated graduate job market
How can candidates stand out when AI has levelled the playing field?
Meet your AI applicant
Some university applicants are using AI in their applications, and most universities can’t even tell.
BBI (Big Bold Ideas): The Future of Universities
An interview with Dr. Michael Fung, Executive Director, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey
Counting everybody in
Dr Geillan Aly, founder of Compassionate Math, is helping students and teachers overcome maths trauma.
A school of complexity and diplomacy
An interview with Laurence Tubiana, Dean of Europe’s first-ever climate school
Teaching the Machine to Heal
How National Taiwan University Is Shaping the Future of AI in Medicine
Innovating from the edges
Meet some of the finalists and winners of the 2025 Reimagine Education Awards
The quiet power of humility
How can humility, practised at home and at work, help university leaders?
Wadi Makkah at Umm Al-Qura University: Where venture capital meets employable skills
At the investment arm of Umm Al-Qura University, products are taking shape in response to everyday challenges.
Winners of the QS ImpACT Awards 2025
Celebrating Youth Changing the World
Year in review
Look back at some of the trends that shaped this year’s higher education sector.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Rankings
What do rankings really mean to you? We explore the meaning and impact behind these crucial metrics on institutions' decisions and perceptions.
Mega, Super, Better
The word de jour is “merger”. Learn about its history and why it’s coming up in more higher ed conversations.
Where Students Are Going
Two decades of growth in international students. Where are students going now and where to next?
A Day in the Life of Students in Summer 2025
We catch up with some students over the Northern Hemispher summer break to understand what they're up to and what they're concerned about in the upcoming academic year.
Are you tired?
Tired of what?
How could you not be energised by international education?
It's clichéd, but nonetheless true, to say that it’s been a massive year. Personally, and professionally, it has been a particularly rewarding 12 months that’s seen the QS Insights community grow far beyond where we’d imagined.
That growth, for me, exemplifies the level of passion that exists within global higher education. Putting together a magazine every month is pointless if there isn’t anybody to read it, and while we endeavour to gather interesting articles, it still requires our readers to have exuberance for the sector. On behalf of the team, thank you for your passion, thank you for subscribing, and thank you for your continued support.
It is also clichéd to say that we are quickly running towards the end of year. For some of you, you might already be on leave, others counting down the days (I do recommend reading through old editions of QS Insights is you are looking for busy work). It’s an important time to recharge, but I find the aforementioned passion within and for the sector to be energising itself. Obviously, we are tired, but tired of what? Certainly not the sector.
This month, we look back on just a handful of stories from the past year to understand 2025. With about 200 original stories published this year, our selections only offer a slice of the bigger trends that we think 2025 will be remembered for (although, again, please go back over past editions if you need some end-of-year professional development).
What we’ve discovered is four broader trends for the year: financial sustainability, collaboration, student choice and AI. These trends are neither positive in their entirety, or negative in their entirety. They are simply what was on the minds of most stakeholders in the sector.
Another underscoring thought was skills and employability. But I’ll allow you to read the full year in review article to understand better.
While this edition is a year in review, we have still included a handful or original articles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the impact of AI features in two, and student choice features in one.
Once again, on behalf of the team, thank you again for reading throughout the year. We look forward to bringing you more insights and understanding of the global higher education sector in 2026.
Stay insightful.
Anton is Editor in Chief of QS Insights. He has been writing on the international higher ed sector for over a decade. His recognitions include the Universities Australia Higher Education Journalist of the Year at the National Press Club of Australia, and the International Education Association of Australia award for Excellence in Professional Commentary.
Contributors
Editor in Chief Anton John Crace
Clients Service Specialist Khushboo Singh
Contributing Writers Claudia Civinini Nick Harland Julie Hoeflinger Krusha Khakhar Gauri Kohli
Chloe Lane Seb Murray Viggo Stacey
Essayists Lilian Ferrer Manuel Orellana
Events Technology Manager Loh Lu Han
Marketing and PR Serena Ricci Mak Leeson
Cover Produced with Adobe Firefly and ChatGPT
Magazine contact Publications @qs.com
Sales contact [email protected]
The QS Insights Magazine is a monthly, online and print publication that highlights trends within the international education sector.
The online edition is emailed to our network of academics and university leaders worldwide. A limited number of copies of the print edition are also sent to university leaders around the world and distributed at QS events.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of QS Quacquarelli Symonds.