TY - JOUR AB - Purpose This paper aims to provide the rationale for the Students Needs 2025 & Beyond study. Its key purpose was to support the development of an organizational innovation function and to identify potential disruptions or surprises.Design/methodology/approach This paper is an introduction that supports the collection of articles to follow.Findings The paper points out three ways in which this study took a unique view of higher education, ultimately focused around a theme of focusing on student rather than institutional needs. It recommends four ways in which the study could be used by the client organization, centered on aiding its innovation function.Research limitations/implications This paper is an introduction to the research.Practical implications The paper is intended for educators, researchers and administrators to gain a better understanding of the student perspective on what they will need from higher education.Originality/value This paper introduces the study that took the perspective of the students in looking at the future of higher education, in contrast to most studies emphasizing the perspective of the institution. VL - 25 IS - 3 SN - 1074-8121 DO - 10.1108/OTH-06-2017-0030 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/OTH-06-2017-0030 AU - Hines Andy AU - Suarez Juan PY - 2017 Y1 - 2017/01/01 TI - Why student needs T2 - On the Horizon PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 141 EP - 144 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -