2025 has been a year of momentum, collaboration, and shared achievement for the CAUDIT community.
In a sector where progress is shaped by collective effort, the importance of coming together has never been clearer. This year’s events, including THETA, the Autumn and Spring Members’ Meetings, and the AHECS Cybersecurity Summit, created invaluable opportunities to connect, exchange insights, and address the challenges and opportunities shaping higher education technology. Each gathering reaffirmed that our greatest strength lies in the relationships we build and the knowledge we share.
Our communities of practice continued to flourish, with members actively collaborating across enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, procurement, and other key domains. These groups remain a vital engine of knowledge sharing and collective problem solving, strengthening capability across institutions large and small.
Our benchmarking and analytics program remains a cornerstone of sector intelligence. The CAUDIT Top Ten and Cybersecurity Baseline Reports served as trusted tools to support data-informed decision-making across universities and research organisations. In 2025 we expanded our international collaboration through ongoing work with our Canadian counterparts and early engagement with partners in the UK. More than 50 institutions also contributed to this year’s NIST cybersecurity survey, demonstrating the sector’s growing maturity and resilience against increasingly complex cyber threats.
Our cybersecurity initiatives through the AHECS partnership play a key role in sector-wide cybersecurity uplift. This year's AHECS Cybersecurity Summit brought together a record number of practitioners to discuss threats, share practical strategies, and drive coordinated action.
On the procurement front, CAUDIT continued to drive value and efficiency for members through sector-wide agreements, enhanced vendor engagement, and initiatives designed to streamline procurement processes and deliver tangible savings.
We continued to nurture the sector's leaders through our professional development initiatives. Forty-five emerging leaders completed the immersive CAUDIT Leadership Institute, and seventy-two graduated from the Managers Program following a seven-month learning journey. These programs continue to be investments in people - the future leaders who will guide our sector through ongoing change and innovation.
As the year draws to a close and students begin a well-earned break, ICT teams across the region are finalising major projects, upgrading systems, and preparing for the year ahead. This demanding period underscores the vital contribution of ICT professionals who keep our institutions running and our sector moving forward. CAUDIT is proud to support this work, and we extend our sincere thanks to the CAUDIT Executive, Member Representatives, their teams, our partners, and our international colleagues. Your dedication and collaboration make our impact possible.
To the CAUDIT team: some of the best teams in your career are only fully appreciated in hindsight. Not so with you. I value and appreciate each of you and the commitment you bring to making a difference every day. Thank you.
The CAUDIT team wishes you a happy, healthy, and restful holiday season. Here’s to a successful, inspiring, and impactful 2026.
Greg Sawyer
CEO, CAUDIT
