The end of the academic year comes in many forms and guises.  The end of the examination period, the submission of a final piece of work, the release of the grades and many more ways you can say that’s the end of this year!  Unlike the calendar year, the end of the academic year comes in the summer as a natural end to work.  It is like the school year that was shaped centuries ago!  The reason for the summer break was the need for the kids to work in the harvest, a tradition that has remained past the agrarian society. 

So, what does the end of an academic year signifies?  For the students, there is a sense of accomplishment as they have completed their course or level of study.  All the hard work, coming to class, long hours of making notes to complete THAT assignment, and all the heartache preparing the exams finally paid off and they can see their labours paying off.  It is also a natural intellectual boundary that takes them a step up in the way they see the world through the lens of their subject.  For colleagues the end of an academic year is slightly different…the next academic year’s preparation is upon them, the paper that needed writing is now facing a fast-approaching deadline and the resetting of all these priorities as set by management.    

Since joining academia, the process of end of summer, has changed significantly from the working on research and scholarly output to administrative tasks!  For those interested in a career in academia, on top of working with others, enjoying a discipline and being involved in education a wider question on how well they can handle paperwork, albeit virtual, is part of the job description.  That comes as part of the job, always did, it is that it feels more intertwined with what we do. 

There is undoubtedly a change in the role education plays in peoples lives especially Higher Education.  This is a sector that in the 1970s recruited less than half a million to now being near the three million mark.  This massive rise on student number has changed the way we see high education and the role it plays in our society.  This is not the education of the elite but the opportunity for all to embrace opportunities and explore areas of interest that will allow them to find themselves, employment, build a career and ultimately a life!  Whilst HE is still expanding the job market is becoming increasingly competitive and the cost of living is forcing people to adjust in how they plan the future.     

So, what will the future hold for the end of year hiatus?  Financially HE is facing challenges, culturally it is under attack, and socially it is being critiqued around whether it offers what it was set up to do.  All these are short- and long-term challenges and they are not going away.  Some will affect in future, access to HE, others will question the content and the basis of academic freedom and finally with the onset of Ai, the scope of HE itself.  Despite all, I am still hopeful that HE is not a degree nor a job opportunity but a moment in any person’s life that takes a step up.  It is a very important human need to fulfil curiosity and to embrace a path that wasn’t clear at the beginning of the journey.  The first academia was founded in an agora under a tree and maybe we get back to that, but in the end human intellect will need stimulation and that is where, despite all challenges, HE prevails.

Perhaps the future of higher education won’t be defined by buildings or systems, but by the enduring human need to learn, to question, and to grow. Whether under a tree in an agora or through the lens of AI, the pursuit of knowledge remains a profoundly human act—and that is where higher education will always find its purpose.