Kortext 2025: our year in review

2025 was a big year for Kortext.

From launching innovative partnerships to enhancing our platform, our work helped shape the past twelve months of digital learning across institutions, supporting students and educators in higher education.

Here’s how Kortext made an impact this year.

Key developments

AI innovation

AI was one of Kortext’s most significant areas of development in 2025. This focus shaped a series of partnerships and collaborations, as we explored practical, scalable applications of AI in higher education.

Working with Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, we launched a pilot for an AI assistant that’s integrated into their VLE, Canvas, to deliver hyper-personalised learning.

‘This collaboration with Kortext, Microsoft and Instructure represents the next major step in that journey – embedding trusted, secure, enterprise-grade AI directly into the learning experience.’
– Mark Bramwell, Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO), Saïd Business School

We also announced a new, enhanced strategic partnership with an existing customer, the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT). Our collaboration will place AASTMT at the forefront of AI-enabled learning across the Middle East and North Africa.

Our work with Microsoft continued to develop in 2025, strengthening a long-standing partnership that stretches back to 2015. This included the launch of a Microsoft case study exploring how content, data and AI can be brought together to support digital learning at scale.

As we continue to draw on shared expertise to improve data-driven decision-making and AI-enhanced learning experiences across higher education, more will be revealed in 2026.

Our flagship event – Kortext LIVE

In February, we hosted our second Kortext LIVE event, ‘Transforming education through technology’, in London, Edinburgh and Manchester. Delivered in partnership with Microsoft, the event brought together senior leaders from across the higher education sector.

The event featured contributions from prestigious speakers such as Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft UK, alongside voices from higher education including PJ Hemmaway, Chief Information Officer at The University of Manchester.

‘We’ve got so many new technology products that are coming out, I don’t believe that we should be building. I believe that we should be partnering, actually buying products, off the shelf.’

– PJ Hemmaway

You can read more of PJ’s thoughts on digital transformation and shaping the student experience in an interview we captured with him earlier this year.

Talis moves to Kortext

In October, we welcomed Talis to the Kortext product portfolio. In its new home, Talis will be able to build on its core features, expand compatibility with library systems, and draw on Kortext’s AI investment to continue supporting institutions in creating and managing resource lists.

Partnerships, collaboration and international reach

In March, we announced new partnerships with Follett Higher Education and Campus eBookstore. Together, these agreements strengthen Kortext’s presence in North America and expand access to learning resources for institutions across the region.

We strengthened partnerships across our network, including collaborations with Rialto and EBSCO, and signed agreements with 11 resellers globally, expanding Kortext’s reach and making our catalogue of over 3.5 million titles available to a wider audience.

Collaborations with organisations including HEPI, Wonkhe and UCISA supported sector-wide discussions on AI and digital transformation. This included a collaborative white paper with Wonkhe, contributing to HEPI’s Student Generative AI survey (HEPI’s most-read piece of the year) and collaborating with UCISA on a webinar with Helen Blaikie, exploring the use of data as a strategic asset at Aston University.

Industry events

Across the year, we attended a range of major industry events, including Digital Universities UK, CanvasCon, the UKSG Annual Conference, BETT UK, London and Frankfurt Book Fairs and the THE Awards, where we were once again proud to sponsor the Outstanding Library Team of the Year Award (look out for our interview with the winner, coming in early 2026).

How students studied

Our growing catalogue

Kortext’s catalogue has continued to expand this year, offering more choice and flexibility for students and institutions, with:

• 10,500+ publishers.
• 55 million ISBNs, with 445,000 ISBNs added in 2025.
• Kortext Open Resources Collection grew from 15,755 in 2024 to 37,252 free-to-access titles in 2025.

Global reach

Kortext continued to expand its global footprint this year, with students accessing Kortext study from 207 countries and territories.

Study behaviour

Students engaged deeply with Kortext throughout the year, using our platform to learn, search, revise and annotate at scale.

How our platform has evolved

Throughout 2025, we continued to enhance the Kortext fusion platform and its applications, with updates designed to improve user experience, workflows and the overall study experience.

Improvements across Kortext study, acquire and adopt

Updates across Kortext adopt, study and acquire delivered improvements for publishers, students and librarians.

• In Kortext adopt, provisioning processes for access codes, desk copies and review copies were streamlined, allowing administrators to manage everything directly within the platform.
• Kortext study gained new tools, including Workbooks for organising notes and an expanded video collection to support different learning needs.
• Kortext acquire saw refinements to make searching, comparing and selecting titles easier, with updates to pricing visibility, filtering options and title previews.

Accessibility enhancements

We also introduced a major accessibility update, improving navigation, visual clarity, keyboard controls and screen-reader compatibility across the Kortext study platform.

These enhancements, which ensure compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA standards, were designed to make the eReader accessible for as many students as possible.

App updates

The Kortext mobile and desktop apps received a major update in 2025, with improvements aimed at making navigation and study workflows smoother across devices.

We introduced the Kortext Library to our apps, giving students the ability browse and manage their institutionally provided content across mobile, tablet and desktop.

The release also refreshed the look and feel of the apps, with clearer layouts, updated visuals and new reading features that create a more intuitive and consistent experience for studying on the go.

Community and engagement

Student ambassadors

We recruited student ambassadors from institutions across the UK. They’ve been busy running events on campus, from welcome fairs and library events to their own pop-up sessions, helping students discover new ways to use Kortext.

Their content has also featured across our social media channels, and several of their blogs have been published on our student hub, offering student-led perspectives on studying, digital learning and university life.

Supporting Student Minds

In May, Kortext staff took part in Student Minds’ Step into Spring challenge, raising over £1,000 to support student mental health and wellbeing services. Together, the team clocked up more than 700,000 steps and covered over 300 miles to support Student Minds as they continue to drive positive change for students across the UK.

Looking ahead to 2026

2026 is set to be another year of progress for Kortext.

Building on this year’s momentum, we’re advancing our innovation with AI to transform learning and discovery across higher education. We’ll continue engaging with the sector at Kortext LIVE in February and look forward to sharing further developments throughout the year.

We would like to thank every student, educator and institution that used Kortext this year.

We wish you a restful break and a happy new year.

Team Kortext.

Are you a senior leader in higher education? Join us at Kortext LIVE on 11 February 2026, as we lead the next chapter of digital innovation, together.