Robin’s Digifest 2025 Reflective  

The current challenges around funding and budget constraints facing UK tertiary education mean that collaboration has never been more important. Through its appeal to such a wide and diverse audience, Jisc’s Digifest provides the perfect platform for support and empowerment by bringing people together to share and innovate. 

I’ve just returned from Jisc’s annual flagship digital teaching and learning conference, Digifest, with a renewed sense of optimism that through collaboration the UK tertiary education sector can thrive, not just survive.  

Digifest is an event designed for everyone – the innovators, the change makers, the collaborators, the transformers, the creators and challengers – and being around such an inspiring mix of attendees is thrilling.  

The overall buzz of Digifest 2025 was, to me, unparalleled. This year felt different, with attendees from further and higher education (FE and HE), industry partners, policymakers and stakeholders, and from all levels of seniority from principals to practitioners, highlighting the value of collaboration in every session and every conversation. I was also incredibly proud to see attendees joining both in person and online from across the globe – helping us all to share and expand our diversity of thinking.   

It really is a celebration of learning, not just digital learning. 

Start as you mean to go on  

Day one of Digifest opened with a short, but thought-provoking film focused on the value of strategy and the importance of playing the long game. It reminded us all that, as leaders, we should have an eye on the present as well as the future, with collaboration placed firmly at the heart of the decisions we make. If we build together and lead together, we can thrive together.  

This led seamlessly into a remarkable and humorous opening keynote from Paul Iske, professor of open innovation and business venturing, Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics, and CFO (that’s chief failure officer, not chief finance officer) of the Institute of Brilliant Failures. Paul highlighted that by working together, we might also fail together (a seriously underrated concept) and, therefore, learn together. He also demonstrated the importance of recognising the shift from the ‘cost of failure’ to the ‘value of failure’ through learning – a message that resonated strongly with our audience, allowing them to open their minds to new possibilities and setting the tone for the rest of the conference.  

The what, the how and the why  

Day one continued with rich insights and inspiring achievements from tertiary education institutions who are using digital technologies to improve experiences and outcomes for teachers, learners and communities alike.  

I attended a great breakout session on digital leadership across the tertiary sector focused on access, inclusion and sustainability. In another session, I witnessed the transformative power of education, where USP College shared their approach to using digital to create immersive collaboration spaces and Hull College outlined how AI can be used to break down language barriers to learning – enhancing learner access, success and progress. This year’s Jisc sponsored AoC Beacon Award winner, City College Plymouth, was also on hand to showcase their new AI app designed to boost staff productivity and reduce workloads, allowing teachers more time to provide personalised support where needed.  

The community hub is always one of my favourite areas of Digifest – it’s a simple concept but it does so much. With collaborative workshops, teach-ins and presentations from across the spectrum of Jisc’s many communities of practice including accessibility and assistive technology, digital sustainability, cyber security, data analytics and digital leadership and culture, it was inspirational to see over 300 of our members come together, borne from the desire to communicate, share ideas, make connections and gain insight.  

Our closing keynote from former head of the UK Government’s Office for AI, Sana Khareghani, provided a journey through the history of AI, its more recent impact on AI policy in the UK, and what it might mean for educators and students with a powerful focus on bias in data, diversity of thought, workforce change and environmental sustainability.  

A key message that filtered throughout the conference highlighted that edtech colleagues and tech experts can provide essential information on the WHAT and the HOW (which tech solutions work best and how to get the most from them) but this must be driven by teaching and learning on the WHY.  

Strategy at the heart  

Day two of Digifest 2025 had a more strategic focus and kicked off with an incredibly honest and thoughtful cross-sector panel discussion, which I was privileged to chair.  

This opening keynote reflected the theme of Digifest – where today meets tomorrow – perfectly. HE and FE Leaders including Debra Gray, CEO and principal of Hull College, Anthony Bravo OBE, principal of Basingstoke College of Technology and Pat Carvalho, principal and CEO of Birmingham College (and AoC president) shared their insights on the challenges facing tertiary education today, how they are planning now to achieve their ambitions, and the opportunities afforded through digital and collaborative working – and they didn’t hold anything back.  

It was heartening to witness the alignment between university and college ambitions, with access, inclusion and accessibility, the green agenda, blended and hybrid learning and the transformative power of AI, to name but a few, outlined as shared priorities.  

Challenges to overcome   

The panellist also shared cross-sector challenges, with keeping up with the pace of change of technology, financial sustainability and upskilling staff and students all identified across the board as areas of concern.  

The impact of commercial disruptors, such as LinkedIn Learning who offer an agile model of on-demand education and skills separate from traditional tertiary education, was also flagged by the panel as one to watch.  

Debra Gray echoed the thoughts of many of those in the audience when she highlighted the crucial role tertiary education institutions play in the community. Often colleges and universities are seen as anchor institutions within communities, and without appropriate funding it’s not just students that could fall short, the region and wider economy itself often also suffers. Debra’s call for action on funding investment for education and skills to support citizen and economic growth received an emotive round of applause and certainly gave us all something to think about.  

I am incredibly proud that Jisc was highlighted by the entirety of the panel as a vital partner to help meet their challenges. With its unique position spanning the whole of UK tertiary education, linking in with priority industry partners (such as Adobe, our strategic partner for Digifest 2025), sector bodies and policymakers, Jisc is perfectly positioned to support collaboration, whilst also providing vital expert advice and guidance, products and services to elevate digital transformation and provide our members with the right solutions.  

Opportunities for today and tomorrow  

It was fascinating to hear the panellists discuss the opportunities identified to help them successfully meet the future needs of their organisations, most of which did not focus on the technology itself, but instead concentrated on how people interact with technology.   

Ideas around training and digital literacy, greater collaboration both within and across sectors at all levels and in partnership with industry, developing effective strategy and inclusive and adaptive culture, as well as the value of AI to support teaching and learning and help educators deliver the essential human skills employers are looking for, were all highlighted as areas that could add the most value, and this certainly resonated across the entirety of the conference.  

To me, it is clear, colleges, universities and education providers cannot seek to realise these ambitions on their own, and nor should they be expected to. Tertiary education is stronger together, where ideas can be exchanged, piloted, and, where successful, rapidly scaled. This is why collaboration was such a central theme of Digifest 2025.  

So, I would like to thank all the delegates who attended in person and those that joined us online from across the globe, our strategic partners and trusted exhibitors that made Digifest 2025 such a fantastic success. This event is about you, for you, and together we can meet the future we want to see together.  

I hope everyone that attended Digifest this year has left feeling empowered, and we look forward to continuing these conversations and welcoming you again with open arms for Digifest 2026. But first, time to harness the energy and reflect on what, for me, has been an incredibly rewarding and insightful couple of days. 

By Robin Ghurbhurun, Managing Director for Further Education and Skills; Executive Director of Nations, AI, Advice and Training at Jisc