Nous Group Study of Higher Education Professional Services Leaders 2025 Nous Group University COO Survey 2022

On the precipice: Sustainability in an age of uncertainty

Nous Group is an international management consultancy with over 800 people working across Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. With our broad consulting capability, we can solve your most complex strategic challenges and partner with you through transformational change. Together, Nous and Cubane form one of the most authoritative higher education service businesses operating today – a true leader in higher education with global expertise.

System planning and design

Engagement and co-design

Service redesign and integration

Monitoring and evaluation

Six strategic challenges

Theme 1

70 university operational leaders ACROSS

Steering the ship

While the role of professional services leaders has evolved in many institutions in recent years – from lead administrators to risk managers to strategic partners – it also increasingly involves co-leading large and complex organisations through turbulent waters borne of financial troubles. A critical part of this is enhancing financial literacy within institutions and bringing discipline and good management practices to improve decision making and align financial strategies with institutional priorities. The importance of long-term thinking in the face of short-term challenges is evident in the 2025 survey, with ‘Leading transformational change’ cited as the highest priority for professional services in the next 5 years.

Australia

New Zealand

Canada

IRELAND

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AUTHORS

A twenty-year golden age of growth for the university sector has ended. Geopolitical, demographic, cultural, and macroeconomic trends collectively present significant headwinds. Financial sustainability risks that once appeared on the horizon are now an urgent priority, one that many universities are not well prepared for.

Paul Taylor

principal, NOUS GROUP

paul.taylor@nousgroup.com

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INTRODUCTION

Steering the ship

Working as a sector

A broader efficiency remit

Managing ageing assets

From digital disappointments to AI adoption

Six key themes

Collaboration by default

Zac Ashkanasy

Principal, Nous Group

zac.ashkanasy@nousgroup.com

Ned Lis-Clarke

DIRECTOR, NOUS GROUP

Zhengyuan Zhang

SENIOR CONSULTANT, NOUS GROUP

As the tailwinds that universities have been used to quickly become headwinds, many universities will be forced to make difficult decisions about what they can and cannot afford. This requires universities to think strategically and act decisively to alleviate immediate financial pressures in the context of their current value propositions and operating models. Over a longer time horizon, it may also require a more fundamental reconsideration of the value that universities provide and the strategies and operating models that deliver this value.

conclusion

Most important areas for professional services in the next 5 years

Nous Group Study of Higher Education Professional Services Leaders 2025

THEME 1

THEME 2

THEME 3

THEME 4

THEME 5

THEME 6

7.9

7.3

6.1

6.0

5.2

4.9

3.7

3.1

Leading transformational change

Improving service efficiency

Improving service effectiveness

Developing capability of staff

Process automation

Process digitisation

Role redesign

Service centralisation

Campus development

“When I started in this role, I thought it was to just keep the ops running, which was a naïve view of the COO role, perhaps when times are good that’s the focus – spend well on the new things… But when revenue takes a massive one-off hit, when the upswell of negative public sentiment towards universities continues, there is a heightened risk for the COO in terms of personal and legislated responsibilities.” COO of a UK university

Working as a sector

Collaboration between institutions is becoming increasingly important, though there are significant cultural and operational barriers to overcome. More professional services leaders highlight the value of working together to reduce costs – for example through collaborative procurement and shared services – and working as a sector to advocate to government and communicate universities’ value to the public. Mergers are increasingly a realistic prospect. Throughout the interviews we conducted for this study, we found a greater willingness or appetite among professional services leaders to consider greater institutional integration in the future. However, interviewees noted that there are significant cultural and operational barriers to overcome.

“[I]f we want to thrive, we need to work out what shared services and infrastructure looks like. We have got to crack that and break down some of the barriers. For me that would be a real game changer.” COO of an Australian university

Theme 2

A broader efficiency remit

Managing the cost base is a critical short-term priority for many professional services leaders. Doing this without compromising on an institution’s academic and social mission is no mean feat. While universities are showing a greater propensity to find efficiencies across corporate, support, and administrative services, financial difficulties mean that areas that have traditionally been immune from cost cutting are increasingly up for grabs. This is reflected in the fact that universities are increasingly looking at academic delivery as a site where they might pursue efficiencies. This has historically been an anathema to many universities, especially in Canada and the UK.

Theme 3

Areas helpful in balancing financial sustainability with strategic investments

Outsourcing

Increasing tuition fees

Other

Improved space utilitsation

International enrolment expansion

Removal of low margin programs

Improving the efficience of support services

43%

13%

12%

16%

14%

19%

63%

34%

47%

12%

59%

35%

-29

PPT

+35

PPT

2023

2025

There is a shift away from expanding international enrolments, towards removing low margin programs

The % shown refers to the number of professional services leaders who ranked the option one of the top two strategies they have found helpful to balance financial sustainability with strategic investments

Collaboration as default

Cross-portfolio collaboration is essential in a cost-constrained environment. Bridging the divide between academic and professional services has become an even higher priority, as professional services leaders struggle to align financial priorities with academic expectations and institutional objectives. Cultivating the culture required to collaborate, effective change management, and active co-leadership will all be necessary to land transformational, institution-wide reforms.

Theme 4

“Institutions are used to moving slowly, slow to adapt, slow to adopt … [especially] … on the academic side where they have stopped looking on the outside on what innovation can be brought in. Our role in professional services is to move them along a little faster, keep them uncomfortable.” VPFA of a Canadian university

“Academics recognise the need to be cost-restrained. Although they haven’t recognised that need fully and that they have a role to play in it… You need to be the “unreasonable COO”. This is helpful to the provost, who plays on the academic side, but behind the scenes, there is the management of expectations.” COO of a UK university

“It is very important that the COO is to be seen as a partner to the academic leadership… I can’t be enforcing recruitment freezes unless it is absolutely supported from the academic part of the business. We were absolutely in lock step. That is critical to the success of the business.” COO of an Australian university

Managing aging assets

Many universities are sitting on large, ageing, and often underutilised assets that are costly to maintain and no longer fit-for-purpose, especially given modern teaching methods, hybrid work trends, and financial realities. Increasingly, universities need to choose between physical and digital environments. Professional services leaders have an important strategic role to play in managing and optimising university assets and facilities to reduce costs, improve sustainability, use space efficiently, and create additional revenue channels. This can be a vexing issue. But it is nevertheless unsurprising that “Infrastructure leadership” remains a top priority for many professional services leaders, with most (53 per cent) rating it among their top three priorities.

Theme 5

From digital disappointments to AI adoption

Digital investments remain a significant priority for many institutions despite financial pressures. However, some universities are sceptical about their impact on efficiency and productivity. In this context, professional services leaders have an important role to play in championing and driving major digital investments so that they deliver their intended benefits. Given its enormous disruptive potential, AI presents a promising avenue for these efforts, though universities are at the early stages of unlocking the value that AI can bring.

Theme 6

“Digital transformation is moving so much faster than universities have ever been able to move. We need a model in place that allows us to be agile to be able to embrace that technology at speed. Our students are absorbing the changes that are occurring in this world faster than we are able to move. “ COO of an Australian university

Our report explores a broad range of strategies that professional services leaders might consider:

This requires universities to consider both how to achieve efficiencies within their current value proposition as well as whether new paradigms – underpinned by different conceptions of university value – are required. Professional services leaders have a critical role to play in leading their institutions through turbulent times. Six key themes emerged over the course of our 2025 study. They reflect the mood and temperature of the leaders we spoke with to provide a useful insight in the landscape as it currently lies.

The current operating environment presents a significant opportunity to deliver fundamental changes to universities’ operations and finances. These changes will help to ensure the long-term financial health and sustainability of institutions so that they can best deliver on their academic and social missions.

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ned.lis-clarke@nousgroup.com

Zhengyan.zhang@nousgroup.com

This is Nous Group's third study of higher education professional services leaders. It is based on a survey of more than 50 senior professional services leaders from across Australia, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand, which was conducted between November 2024 and February 2025. The survey results were complemented by 20 in-depth interviews. Additional insight into the changing landscape of university administration was provided by higher education leaders from Nous Group. Data has also been drawn from the surveys and interviews conducted for our 2022 and 2023 studies. Nous Group is grateful for the time and expertise that the leaders who participated have provided.

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Leading in a changing sector...

Achieving institution-wide reforms...

Anticipating change and disruption...

Lifting the financial literacy of institutions and instilling good management practices.

Forging greater collaboration between institutions to save costs and advocate to governments and the public.

Pursuing efficiencies across the whole suite of universities’ activities, including academic affairs, to both manage costs in the short-term and support long-term financial sustainability.

Forging greater cross-portfolio collaboration to align financial priorities with academic expectations, priorities and ambitions.

Managing and optimising university assets and facilities to reduce costs, improve sustainability, use space more efficiently and create additional revenue channels.

Leading and advocating for major digital investments so they support long-term sustainability and growth ensuring they realise their intended benefits.

Change in capital investments in the past 12 months

Significantly reduced

Minimally reduced

Minimally increased

Significantly increased

No change

54%

of universities have reduced capital investments over the last 12 months

2023

2025

600+

180

projects delivered with higher education clients

PARTNERING WITH MORE THAN

higher education institutions

OUR HIGHER EDUCATION OFFER INCLUDES:

University and Faculty Strategy

ORGANISATIONAL AND SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

RESEARCH FOCUS AND PRODUCTIVITY

EDUCATIONAL DIRECTION

CHANGE THROUGH PEOPLE

STUDENT EXPERIENCE

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