As UK universities face their most severe funding crisis in a generation, ICS.AI is extending its proven AI transformation programme to higher and further education, backed by a guaranteed £5 million in savings. The initiative adapts the successful blueprint that identified £7.5 million in savings for Derby City Council and is now being implemented by a growing number of public sector organisations.
The move comes at a critical juncture for higher education. Like local councils, universities are complex public institutions responsible for serving large communities and managing vast administrative workloads, from admissions and enrolment to student support. Both sectors are now facing intense financial pressure to deliver more with less. With a forecasted £1.4 billion net funding reduction for 2025-26 and shrinking international student revenue, the need for transformation in higher education has never been more urgent.
ICS.AI offers a direct response to this crisis. By applying its proven model for public sector transformation, the company integrates every learner, educator, and process into a single, secure, and ethically governed AI platform. This framework is designed to automate and optimise processes across the student lifecycle, with the potential to save a typical university between £17-30 million per year. To demonstrate its confidence in this battle-tested approach, ICS.AI is backing the solution with its £5 million savings guarantee.
“The financial and operational challenges facing universities are remarkably similar to those we’ve successfully tackled in local government,” said Martin Neale, CEO of ICS.AI. “Both must handle huge volumes of inquiries and complex processes under extreme budgetary pressure. Our work with Derby City Council provided a blueprint for transformation that is now being adopted by other councils. We are confident this same proven model will deliver millions in guaranteed savings for universities, allowing them to reinvest in the core mission of teaching and research.”
Michael Webb, Director of AI at Jisc, which is working in partnership with ICS.AI, added: “Universities and colleges urgently need scalable, responsible, and ethical AI solutions that deliver real operational impact. At Jisc, we’re actively supporting the sector in navigating this transformation in a way that upholds trust and integrity across teaching, research and the student experience. The work ICS.AI has done with Derby City Council offers a valuable opportunity for Jisc to explore how AI might be applied in practice, with exciting potential to inform future developments across the education sector.”
With the ‘Bring Your Own AI’ movement creating risks around data privacy and academic integrity, ICS.AI provides a governed, equitable solution for as little as £1.50 per user per month. This allows institutions to manage the challenges of shadow AI while harnessing its transformative potential.
ICS.AI’s recent Student AI Expectations Survey reveals that a vast majority of students now expect institution-wide AI tools as a standard part of their learning environment, viewing it as a hallmark of a credible and modern university.
Sign up for ICS.AI’s ‘AI Transformation in Higher Education’ webinar here.
