Welcome to the September edition of the Adobe Higher Education newsletter.
A new academic year is here – and with it, a fresh cohort of students, new colleagues, and the chance to set the tone for the months ahead. Whether you’re welcoming first-years, refreshing your teaching materials, or getting systems ready for Welcome Week, we’re here to help you start strong.
This edition is built around getting up and running: an invitation to join the new Adobe AI Innovators Forum and Faculty community; resources to help graduating and returning students manage their creative work; a look at the latest product features; and, for IT teams, a reminder to check that licences are ready before students arrive. Whatever your role, there’s something here to help you hit the ground running.
Help shape future editions of this newsletter by sharing your thoughts in our quick feedback form.
Join the Adobe AI Innovators Forum.
The Adobe AI Innovators Forum is a practitioner-led group for UK higher education professionals who are shaping AI strategy, teaching, learning, and innovation across the sector. The forum has a particular focus on Adobe PDF Spaces, Student Spaces, and Acrobat AI Assistant, providing members with opportunities to explore emerging capabilities, share real-world use cases, hear directly from product teams, and collaborate with peers on research, pilots, and best practices.
Monthly meetings include customer spotlight sessions, product updates, and networking opportunities designed to help institutions drive responsible and impactful AI adoption.
Interested in joining? Complete the Adobe AI Innovators Forum registration form at the link below to become part of the community.
Celebrating our new Adobe NEXT// Campus Leaders.
We were delighted to welcome our newest cohort of Adobe NEXT// Campus Leaders to our London offices for a two-day onboarding bootcamp. Bringing together film and design students from universities across the UK, the programme packed in product training, industry panels, and leadership conversations. It included a Q&A on creativity, curriculum, AI, and careers as well as an industry panel featuring filmmakers and designers who shared their journeys with students.
The real highlight was hearing the students themselves. They shared fresh ideas from our event-planning and product workshops, and genuine excitement about how they'll bring creativity to life on their own campuses in the year ahead.
Going forward, Campus Leaders will be your go-to students for Adobe Creative Cloud initiatives. They'll run their universities' Adobe Next// chapters, hosting hands-on product workshops, creative challenges, and hot-topic discussions on campus; creating student-led content; and acting as a direct line for student feedback on the tools and trends shaping film and design. Keep an eye out for their events on your own campus!
Know a design or film student who'd thrive as a Campus Leader? Encourage them to apply.
*Please note that this programme is separate from the Adobe Student Ambassador programme, which continues to run.
Coming to a city near you.
Adobe is bringing a full day of hands-on workshops to six cities across Europe this October, built for higher education educators who want to explore AI-powered creative workflows.
The day covers generative AI and ethics, Adobe Creative Cloud Pro Plus, Adobe Firefly for teaching, fine art prototyping, Adobe Acrobat Studio for curriculum design, and rapid prototyping for digital
storytelling — plus a networking lunch. It's free to attend, and seating is limited.
New on WonkHE: Students don’t develop skills by accident – it takes work to make graduate attributes real.
In her latest WonkHE piece, Becky Hartnup explores the gap between naming the skills students need and building them into the curriculum. She draws on Aston University's Power Skills programme and Adobe's new business school guide to offer a practical map for moving from ambition to embedded, everyday practice. It’s a useful read as you shape curricula and skills activity for the year ahead.
Help students take their creative work with them.
It's easy for graduating students to copy their Adobe files from school-assigned accounts to new or existing Adobe personal accounts. With the Student File Transfer feature, they'll get ongoing access to their work so they can showcase it to future employers. Learn more and use our email templates to inform students of this great benefit.
Ready to supercharge student engagement?
The Student Awareness Checklist is your go-to toolkit for boosting Adobe Express usage on campus. It provides you with all the resources you need to promote your institution's Adobe Creative Campus initiatives and increase student awareness and use of Adobe Express. Whether you want to spark excitement, ramp up student creativity, or share key updates, these resources make it easy to connect and inspire your campus community.
The Higher Education Faculty Community is now open to all worldwide.
Exciting news! Now higher education professionals across the globe can connect to spark collaboration and support meaningful instructional innovation. Become a registered member of the Higher Education Faculty Community and get your invitation to join meetings and the community LinkedIn group.
What's new?
Generate sound effects | Adobe Express
Create sound effects for your audiovisual projects using text prompts, and use voice input to guide timing and energy.
Run brand checks | Adobe Express
Run brand checks to review your design’s logos, colours, and fonts, and ensure they comply with the selected brand.
Embed files | Adobe Express
Turn your Adobe Express designs into a live, interactive file you can add to your website, blog, or online document.
Export designs as PSD files | Adobe Express
Download a design as a layered PSD file to continue editing and refining it in Adobe Photoshop.
Create YouTube Shorts | Adobe Premiere on iPhone
Tap into the new dedicated space for jump-starting your creativity on YouTube. Get started fast with exclusive, on-trend templates, effects, transitions, and more.
Jump-stGet advanced source separation | Adobe Podcastart creative ideas with Firefly Boards.
Struggling with background noise, distracting music, or unbalanced audio? Now you can control each sound layer separately instead of settling for a single processed track.
Explore the latest features across your favourite Adobe tools.
Licence deployment reminder
Please ensure that licences have been assigned to students via the Adobe Admin Console ahead of Welcome Week. Visit the Adobe Education deployment guide for support. If you need further assistance, you can submit a support ticket via the admin console or reach out to your Adobe Customer Success Manager.
Useful resources
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Share your thoughts using our quick feedback form.
Newsletter archives
Our newsletter hub includes our latest edition along with past issues. Add the following link to your institution's Adobe website to keep everyone up to date:
Best,
The Adobe EMEA Higher Education team
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