The government’s response to the school Curriculum and Assessment Review marks the beginning of a profound cultural shift in how we educate young people – one that higher education cannot afford to ignore.
By introducing an enrichment entitlement that places movement, sport and personal development alongside academic learning, the new curriculum reframes what “well-educated” really means.
For universities this should not be considered a distant reform in the primary and secondary sectors, but a signal of what’s coming. From the mid-2030s students will arrive with fundamentally different expectations of balance, wellbeing and participation. The higher education sector as a whole must be ready to meet them and British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) is working with its members to help shape that future.
The Department for Education’s newly announced curriculum reforms for England may feel distant from the world of higher education, but their implications could be profound. The government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review sets out a new “core enrichment entitlement” for every pupil in England – reforms that will shape how future students think about learning, wellbeing and opportunity.
Becoming the norm
These changes will be fully implemented in 2028 and the first students to experience this system from start to finish will enter university in the mid-2030s. That gives the sector time to prepare – but it will require a reset of culture and of the structures that support the student experience.
The reformed curriculum will ensure every school protects two hours per week for PE and provides a guaranteed enrichment offer spanning sport, civic engagement, arts, culture, nature and life skills. Enrichment will no longer be treated as a bolt-on to the academic curriculum but as a viable benchmark of educational quality, informing inspection outcomes and parental choice.
There are stark comparisons to be drawn with the higher education experience and where responsibility lies for enrichment in our institutions, how we protect this, and also how we share our experiences with the primary and secondary sector.
Our 2025 student survey revealed the extent to which participation in sport as an enrichment activity adds value to students and to their institution, and gives foresight to the promise of the combined effect of the curriculum reforms. It’s a rebalancing of focus that recognises sport and active participation, creativity and connection as integral to success, not a distraction from it.
90.3 per cent of respondents agreed that taking part in a BUCS sport has helped support their mental wellbeing, and around half of respondents agreed that being part of a sports team or club has kept them from dropping out of university.
The evidence of the impact and benefit of sport to students and institutions is stark. So it begs a serious question as to why the space for enrichment on Wednesday afternoons and resourcing of sport are under threat when student demand is high and its impact likely meets many institution’s KPIs.
A challenge and an opportunity
The reforms mean that within a decade, students’ expectations of the university experience could change dramatically. Students will have come from a culture that expects enrichment, play and active participation as a right. They will look to higher education not simply for academic learning, but for environments that continue to value wellbeing, social connection and active participation.
For universities, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Can institutions protect time and space for sport, creativity, and civic participation amid competing pressures of finance, teaching intensity, and student cost of living pressures?
The once-sacrosanct Wednesday afternoons off, have become a symbol of that tension – too often becoming a sacrifice for academic scheduling. If the enrichment generation arrives expecting a continuation of entitlement and balance, institutions will need to rethink their priorities.
For universities and students’ unions, this raises serious questions. How can timetables, facilities and resources adapt to meet these expectations? Can institutions protect time and space for enrichment when teaching, financial constraints and student cost of living pressures are eroding it?
An entire generation will arrive into higher education with a built-in expectation of enrichment. How do we prepare for this?
Preparing for a reset
At BUCS we recognise that this generational shift will demand fresh thinking. As part of our strategy we have committed to working with our members to support one million students a year to be active by 2030.
To do this we must be agile and open minded.
That means embracing new models of engagement, flexible formats of competition, and closer alignment with wellbeing and academic priorities. It means seeing student sport and enrichment not as extracurricular, but as co-curricular, becoming a defining feature of the modern university experience.
We are already working to accelerate the pace at which the content of our sporting programme can adapt, ensuring it reflects the changing patterns of participation and the growing diversity of students and their needs and motivations. It’s no longer about the “what” in terms of our offer, it’s also about “how” they can be accessed – ensuring our systems, structures and programmes are flexible enough to evolve with student expectations.
The coming culture shift
The new curriculum may be a school policy on paper, but it signals a deeper shift in educational values, and one that the sector needs to embrace.
For those of us in higher education, the question is how to make that priority visible and credible on campus, and extend this health and happiness through an enriched experience.
Those of us that do, will not only meet the expectations of the students of the mid-2030s, they will help define the future higher education experience itself.
The enrichment generation will expect, and deserve, a higher education experience that reflects the values their schooling has embedded: inclusivity, balance, and an active approach to life and learning.
Health, happiness and recognition of their whole self will now be a given. Ensuring this will demand leadership, agility and vision from the higher education sector. BUCS is ready to play that role, working with the 157 institutions that are our current members to help shape an environment where every student can thrive through sport and active participation.
The reset begins now. The prize is a happier, healthier and more connected generation.
