Founded by Jelena Matic, Senior Education Developer at Nottingham Trent University, the Coaching in HE Network is a community of coaching practitioners, researchers and education professionals from more than 70 institutions, focused on developing more human-centred approaches to learning and working in higher education.
The conference centred around a thought-provoking question: What is the role of coaching in the future of higher education?
Throughout the day, conversations explored themes of compassionate education, coaching cultures, leadership, identity, and the evolving purpose of higher education. Each session offered valuable insights, but the question we kept coming back to was: How do we bring back joy into higher education?
Many of us can remember the excitement of receiving a university offer. The anticipation of a new chapter, the opportunities ahead, the sense that anything was possible. University represented growth, discovery and possibility.
So what has changed?
Today, conversations in higher education often focus on protecting students from the pressures they face, supporting wellbeing, and helping them build resilience. These are, of course, vital priorities. But alongside supporting students to cope, we should also be asking how we help them flourish.
How do we ensure that university is not simply something students survive, but somewhere they truly thrive?
This is where coaching offers something uniquely powerful.
At its heart, coaching begins with hope. It starts by asking someone to imagine their preferred future and then supports them in finding meaningful pathways towards it. Rather than focusing solely on problems, coaching encourages possibility, agency and growth. It helps people recognise their own strengths and empowers them to shape their own journey.
As I listened throughout the day, I found myself thinking that these are exactly the qualities our higher education sector - battered by uncertainty and ongoing challenges - needs more of. Not just for our students, but for everyone who learns, teaches, leads and works within it.
The conference also provided an opportunity to hear from colleagues from our Business School Coaching Steering Group, alongside our Dean, Professor Gavin Jack, who shared how we have been embedding coaching across the School.
Gavin spoke passionately about building a genuine coaching culture - not as an initiative that sounds good or an exercise to support accreditation, but as something woven into the fabric of who we are and how we work.
He described coaching as a way of listening to students and colleagues, strengthening our sense of community, creating meaningful connections and fostering a culture of belonging. More than a development tool, coaching has become a catalyst for better conversations, stronger relationships and a shared sense of purpose.
Perhaps most importantly, Gavin reminded us that our purpose extends beyond rankings, league tables and revenue. Instead, it begins with a far more fundamental question: Why are we here?
When coaching becomes part of an institution's culture, it helps answer that question.
As a member of the Business School, I felt immense pride. What Gavin described is something I experience every day. The values he spoke about are not simply words in a strategy or statements on a website - they are lived, practised and embedded in the way we work with one another and with our students.
Because when people feel seen, supported and empowered, joy has a way of finding its way back.