2026 European Learning & Teaching Forum – Impactful staff development for educational transformation
2026 European Learning & Teaching Forum
Impactful staff development for educational transformation
How can higher education safeguard its fitness-for-purpose and relevance as artificial intelligence
rises, demographic change and labour market demands and learning needs evolve?
These developments, as well as larger-scale societal shifts towards a knowledge economy, point
to a need for more innovative approaches to learning and teaching. With this in mind, the next
edition of the European Learning & Teaching Forum will focus on how staff development can be
(re-)designed to facilitate innovation in learning and teaching to create systemic impact on student
learning, by delving into questions such as:
• How can institutions develop their staff’s capacity to adequately use – and perhaps even
themselves develop – innovative pedagogical methods, resources and tools?
• Which approaches work to give due support and recognition to early adopters, and how
can their impact be evaluated?
• How can staff be equipped with the agility to adapt to and tackle future educational
challenges, and be encouraged to become innovators themselves?
Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the Forum provides a platform for discussion and
exchange of practice on how universities enhance, innovate and transform learning and teaching.
The 2026 Forum will also include an exclusive preview of the work of EUA’s 2025 Learning &
Teaching Thematic Peer Groups, comprised of universities from across Europe.
Gathering a wide range of learning and teaching professionals to exchange and discuss
institutional practice and policy developments, the Forum is an ideal event for vice-rectors for
academic affairs, deans, heads of learning and teaching centres, and management involved in
learning and teaching. It also welcomes students, policy makers and other stakeholders in higher
education.
Draft programme – On site (no online participation)
Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Pre-Forum meetings (by invitation only)
11.30-13.30 Steering Committee meeting
13.30-14.30 Lunch and registration for Steering Committee and Thematic Peer Group
members
14.30-18.00 Pre-Forum workshop for members of the Thematic Peer Groups
18.00-19.30 Reception for Key Players and Thematic Peer Group members
www.eua.eu
Thursday, 12 February
08.30-17.30 Registration
09.00-09.30 EUA in a Nutshell
This is an interactive introductory session for “EUA newcomers” and everybody
else with an interest in what the association does and how it works.
09.45-10.00 Official Forum Opening
10.00-10.45 Opening Plenary
Exploring the what, why and how of educational transformation
This session will challenge the audience to jointly (re)consider our current
understanding of educational transformation:
What does transformation mean and what kind of innovation and change do we
hope to achieve in higher education? To what degree can we actually transform
learning and teaching, without stripping it of its essential educational, economic
and societal functions? And which approaches to transforming education go
beyond revamped packaging and actually achieve true innovation and added
value for students? These and other questions will be the topic of this opening
session.
• Emilie Malcourant, Teaching Consultant, Louvain Learning Lab/University of
Louvain, Belgium
• Further session contributors will be announced soon.
10.45-11.15 Coffee break
11.15-12.45 Breakout Sessions A
These parallel sessions are based on the work of the Thematic Peer Groups and
the call for contributions.
12.45-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.30 Breakout Sessions B
These parallel sessions are based on the work of the Thematic Peer Groups and
the call for contributions.
15.30-16.00 Coffee break
16.00-17.30 Breakout Sessions C
These parallel sessions are based on the work of the Thematic Peer Groups and
the call for contributions.
19.30 Dinner
Friday, 13 February 2026
09.30-11.00 Breakout Sessions D
These parallel sessions are based on the work of the Thematic Peer Groups and
the call for contributions.
www.eua.eu
11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-12.30 Closing Plenary
Connecting the dots: how to create lasting impact through staff
development
How can staff development be (re-)designed to have a greater and longer-lasting
effect on the quality and relevance of higher education?
As the Forum draws to a close, this session will explore the bigger picture of how
to design staff development that will truly help to cultivate innovative learning and
teaching. It will do so through a keynote intervention, comics based on selected
Forum sessions, a panel discussion and audience engagement as participants
reflect on current evidence and experiences.
• Katarina Mårtensson, Professor of Higher Education and Academic
Developer, Lund University, Sweden
• Further speakers will be announced soon.
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-14.15 Policy Update
14.15-14.30 Forum Closing
14.30-15.00 Farewell coffe