Armaan Khan is a 2025 Business & Management graduate from the University of Reading, and a recent Intern at the SUMS Group. Looking back on the last three years, he asks which parts of campus life must survive the sector’s latest wave of cuts. 

Hard choices, real consequences: what stays on the student playlist? 

Whenever leaders talk about ‘finding efficiencies’, it makes me think of the BBC’s long-running radio show Desert Island Discs where guests are forced to make impossible choices – much like university leaders deciding what to cut or keep in the face of cost challenges. If presenter Lauren Laverne marooned your university leadership team on a desert island – complete with shrinking budget – which key student services (spanning facilities, experiences and support systems) truly deserve a place in the lifeboat?   

This isn’t really just a thought experiment. Frozen tuition, a 7% slide in non-EU enrolments (ICEF Monitor, 2025) and rising costs have already sunk degree programmes in all corners of the UK. Vice-chancellors are told to ‘do more with less’, yet students still rate much of their overall experience quite highly, with 85% praising teaching in the 2024 National Student Survey (Office for Students, 2024).  

However, if a positive student experience is to be maintained longer-term, which key areas or “tracks” must we save to keep an attractive university offer afloat, and will the students who pay their tuition fees get a genuine say in what this means for them? 

Below is my five-track playlist – based on my own student experiences, and recent internship with the SUMS Group – on what the higher education sector needs to keep at all costs for students.  

Track 1 — Market-aligned skills, not guesswork degrees  

Selected music track: “Work” – Rihanna ft. Drake  

Rihanna ft Drake 

Today’s students aren’t just choosing a course; we’re placing a £27k+ bet on our future employability. And when that future includes an 12% drop in graduate vacancies (Office for National Statistics, 2025), it’s no wonder skills alignment ranks higher than salary for many of us. Too often, though, there’s a lag between what employers need and what universities teach. Many modules still prioritise essay-writing over toolkits like Python, UX design or AI prompting. 

To stay relevant, universities need a live wire between lecture halls and hiring feeds. SUMS’ work optimising teaching, learning and assessment refers to this as an “agile content refresh”: real-time labour market insights should inform course design, with new content slotted in term-by-term, not every five years. That might mean six-week micro-credentials, employer-verified projects, or optional add-ons in areas like carbon accounting or digital marketing. Add capstone projects co-designed with local firms, and students can graduate with work-ready portfolios, not just degree certificates. 

Cutting out-of-date modules isn’t cutting quality. It’s protecting student futures in a world where guesswork won’t pay the rent. 

Track 2 — Pro-active mental-health support, not fire-drill counselling  

Selected music track: “Help!” – The Beatles  

Help by The Beatles

As a student, I’ve grown accustomed to swiping through TikTok study hacks while ChatGPT drafts flashcards in the background, yet I still feel a knot of panic that I’m falling behind. The algorithm never sleeps, so neither do our brains. It’s no coincidence that call volumes to student helplines in 2022/23 were more than double what they were a decade earlier (NiteLine, 2023). Treating mental health like a fire alarm – smashing the glass only after a crisis – will ultimately fail students in an always-on world.  

Each university needs at least one clearly sign-posted hub where you can book an initial assessment the same week, grab a walk-in slot if the wheels come off, or secure an emergency bursary when rent and serotonin both run low. SUMS’ student support service reiterates this view that universities must intentionally build inclusive environments that empower all students to thrive and succeed. Thus, first-year timetables should weave in short, credit-bearing lessons on sleep hygiene, budgeting, screen detox and peer listening so resilience grows before deadlines bite. A sudden drop in attendance should trigger a gentle check-in, not a disciplinary email. Swap glossy resilience posters for extra counsellors and quiet rooms; increases in student retention will repay the bill. 

Track 3 — Net-zero campuses, not budget-zero greenwash 

Selected music track: “Waiting on the World to Change” – John Mayer  

Waiting on the World to change by John Mayer

From a personal perspective, the University of Reading’s 2030 net-zero pledge clinched my UCAS choice (University of Reading, 2021). Climate anxiety is real, and students want fee funding solutions, not surface-level greenwashing. Yet, sustainability teams are often first in the firing line because cleaner air doesn’t look like cash. Energy bills now swallow a bigger share of university budgets than lecture theatres do, so slashing carbon isn’t a PR luxury, it’s fiscal sense. LED refits, solar roofs, bike-hire schemes and heat-pump halls can pay back financial benefits within five years, and faster than most marketing drives. Add hands-on repair cafés where students learn to mend laptops and clothes, and you cut waste and build skills at almost zero cost. The payoff is clear: almost half (48%) of prospective students surveyed would choose a more sustainable university over one ranked in the global top 100 (QS, 2025), showing that visible sustainability performance can outweigh traditional league positioning in applicant decision‑making. 

Track 4 — No hidden costs, more practical support  

Selected music track: “Money, Money, Money” – ABBA  

Money, money, money by ABBA

Cost clarity is non-negotiable. Hidden extras from “premium” student halls, to field-trip levies, to last-minute lab fees can all destroy trust and drive students into yet more side hustles. This is why 68% of UK undergrads now work during term time (The Times, 2025). It feels fair that universities should publish one all-in price tag that covers tuition, compulsory materials and realistic living costs, then freeze it for the entire cohort. The same transparency is crucial overseas: international enrolments dropped 7% last year (ICEF Monitor, 2025), and no glossy prospectus will plug the gap. What genuinely converts applicants is practical support – quick and clear answers to visa questions, guaranteed affordable housing, and peer-run WhatsApp welcome groups. In SUMS’ view, recruitment is ‘a whole-journey experience, from first click to first payslip’. That journey must begin with affordability and end with employability; both have to be designed in, not bolted on.  

Track 5 — Transparent, two-way communication  

Selected music track: “Listen” – Beyoncé  

Listen by Beyonce

Nothing breeds cynicism faster than a survey that vanishes. When my student cohort flagged a clash between compulsory seminars and peak supermarket work shifts, the academic timetable changed because student reps had a seat at the table, and the decision was communicated clearly and quickly.  

As SUMS CEO Joel Arber, puts it: “Student success goes way beyond academic provision – students may now be viewed more as ‘customers’ in the traditional sense – but in reality they’re much more than that – they’re partners in learning”. As such, their needs and expectations must sit at the forefront of any change agenda. When that partnership is real, voice has agency and data gives it direction. Universities should keep students on every change panel, and aim to publish termly “you said / we did” logs and/or stream town hall meetings to communicate any changes more openly with students. Trust costs less than any rebrand and buys far more loyalty. 

One last spin  

Selected music track: “I’m Still Standing” – Elton John  

I don’t pretend to know all the answers, but this hopefully shares some fresh perspectives on the student experience from a very recent graduate – I received my scroll only last week!  

I therefore pose the same challenge back to you. Imagine you’re back on Desert Island Discs, faced with the impossible task of choosing which songs to keep and which to leave behind. Which parts of campus life would you strand on the shore? And which essential tracks must you protect at all costs to ensure students continue to thrive?  

If you’d like some practical templates and real-world examples – or simply want to suggest another ‘must-keep’ track for students, we urge you to contact consulting@sums.ac.uk or explore our University Efficiency Hub at sums.ac.uk/universities-efficiencies. We’d love to support universities in their efforts to become both lean and liveable for our student communities. Because once the music stops, it’s students who are perhaps most at risk of feeling the silence. 

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