Board to the Future: 4 Decisions You'll Regret Not Making Before 2028

Two years from now, what are the decisions you would deeply regret not making today?

That was the heavy-hitting question that anchored the “Board to the Future” panel at EnrolyCon ’26. Stepping into a metaphorical DeLorean, sector leaders and Enroly’s Advisory Board members Chris Chang (University of Portsmouth), Helen Challis (Newcastle University), Francis Glover (University of Birmingham), Jenny Fernandes (University of Glasgow) and Keran Williams (HE Admissions Consultant) fast-forwarded the audience to 2028 to then look back at the choices universities are facing right now.

The tone of the session wasn't about distant, blue-sky transformations. It was an urgent, deeply human reality check. We are operating in a permanently volatile, highly regulated higher education ecosystem. The institutions thriving in 2028 won’t be the ones that waited for policy rescues or political stabilisation - they will be the ones that acted today.

Here is the distilled, practical brief of what university leaders must address right now to protect their teams and the student experience.

1. Close the AI leadership gap

A real tension exists between operational teams who are already comfortably experimenting with AI to stay afloat, and senior leaders, who often remain cautious.

• The reality: Technology change works best when leaders visibly back it, make it a priority, and help bring teams with them.
• The strategic lever: AI isn't an innovation luxury anymore; it is an efficiency and survival mechanism.Leaders need senior AI champions who can make the case for technology, give teams permission to use it, and help universities grow in ways that are not solely reliant on increasing student numbers.

2. Mitigate volatility via real-time data

We are on a wild journey where some target markets grow by 80% while others contract completely overnight. Relying on the same traditional international markets is a massive medium-term risk.

• The reality: You cannot pivot quickly if you are looking at lagging indicators.
• The strategic lever: To survive tighter regulations (like the new BCA thresholds) and extreme market swings, universities must "bite the bullet" and invest in systems that provide real-time, actionable data. As Jenny Fernandes put it, it's about having the system infrastructure that allows you to pivot instantly while protecting the integrity of your evidence-based decisions.

3. Attack student journey "melt"

When more applications come in than teams have the capacity to handle, things slow down and the admin burden grows.

"Friction in the student journey kills growth. Whatever we can do to reduce the melt at every stage of the journey we need to embrace rapidly."  - Helen Challis

• The reality: Friction is a silent killer. If a student encounters clunky, slow, or repetitive processes, they convert elsewhere.
• The strategic lever: Upgrading technology isn't just about automation; it’s about aligning software with structural changes. Systems must deliver a seamless customer experience because, in 2028, institutional trust and a flawless student journey will matter far more than legacy brand prestige.

4. Expand your team's "bandwidth to change"

The panel left the room with a vital question about our people: Are we giving our staff the resources to expand their mental and operational bandwidth?

• The reality: Teams are exhausted by manual, repetitive admin. Simply digitising an old, broken process isn’t the answer.
• The strategic lever: Real bandwidth is created when leadership redesigns workflows from scratch, freeing human staff to focus on high-value student connection. Furthermore, we have to stop trying to solve these massive industry puzzles alone. Helen Challis playfully suggested it's time for universities to "stop benchmarking competitors and start dating them" - embracing radical cross-institutional collaboration and moving faster together.

The 2028 briefing: Your immediate checklist

Where the sector is going over the next 24 months, we don't have the luxury of waiting for policy shifts. To build an institution equipped for 2028, ask your board these four questions this week:

• [ ] Do we have a senior executive championing and legitimising AI adoption?
• [ ] Are our recruitment and admissions structures aligned to act on real-time data, or are we making decisions in the rearview mirror?
• [ ] Where are the exact friction points causing applicant "melt" in our current pipeline?
• [ ] Are we genuinely redesigning processes to free up our staff, or are we just throwing software at old habits?

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