Supporting universities in a changing landscape

Q&A with Simon Jones, Group Higher Education Director

As part of our 2025 Annual Report and Accounts, we spoke with Simon Jones, our Group Higher Education Director about how we’re continuing to support universities in a changing landscape and the importance of accommodation partnerships to our long-term growth strategy.

Q: How do you reflect on 2025 for the UK’s higher education sector? 

It was a busy year for the Higher Education sector, which continued to respond to financial challenges. There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Government policy and funding at the start of the year. The picture has become less uncertain as the year’s gone on, with an inflation linked rise in tuition fees giving clarity and confidence to the sector, enabling it to plan for the future. There are further changes to come, such as the re-introduction of the maintenance grant from 2028, and universities continuing to demonstrate their resilience and ability to adapt to new conditions. The fundamentals remain very strong for the Higher Education sector, thanks to strong demand from UK and international students for its world-class provision.

Q: How have we supported universities to meet their accommodation needs this year?

We work with more than 60 universities and supply beds through nomination agreements, helping them to fulfil their accommodation guarantee for first year and international students. We’ve continued to invest in new properties, adding new beds where they are needed most and also investing in our existing properties to ensure we’re delivering quality and value for students. Our engagement scores rose, reflecting the positive impact of these initiatives.

Q: How important are university partnerships to our long-term growth strategy?

University partnerships are fundamental to our growth strategy and our ambition is to add to our pipeline of on-campus developments by securing another new joint venture partnership in 2026. There’s significant demand from universities to co invest in new student housing on their campuses, as they have a number of financial challenges to solve and a scarce amount of capital. They have academic estates to maintain and develop and existing accommodation that often needs to be refreshed or completely rebuilt, as well as sustainability targets to meet. There’s real competition for
capital at universities, and we can play a significant role in helping them to meet these challenges.

Q: What are you looking forward to in 2026?

After finalising the formation of our joint ventures with Newcastle University and Manchester Metropolitan University, we’re really looking forward to seeing extensive construction activity on site. We’re able to start realising those two projects and envisaging them as exciting homes for students of the future. We’re continuing to work on the pipeline of opportunities for other on-campus joint ventures and will be progressing conversations which have been underway for some time. We are targeting the announcement of one additional joint venture by the end of 2026. We’ll be opening Hawthorne House in Stratford in London, where we are working in partnership with University of the Arts London to provide more than 50% of the beds for their students. The £185 million development will combine PBSA and the London Academy of Excellence Stratford, a sixth-form college. It’s set to be a big year with plenty of demand and lots of conversations.