12 - 13 November 2026, Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow
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Registration Desk60 mins
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Main Room10 mins
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Main Room40 mins
- Strategy & Leadership
- Outcomes & Impact
Universities are facing scrutiny over their purpose, value, and contribution to society. In an increasingly challenging political and economic climate, institutions are under pressure not only to remain financially sustainable and deliver strong student outcomes, but also to demonstrate meaningful impact within their regions and communities. At the same time, debates around value for money and the wider role of higher education are reshaping public and political perceptions of the sector. This session will explore how universities are being challenged to rethink how they engage with local partners, employers, government, and communities to become genuinely embedded civic institutions that can clearly articulate and evidence their broader social and economic value.
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Main Room20 mins
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Main Room20 minsOur signature ‘Dragons’ Den’ session provides each solution provider with an opportunity to deliver a 60 second pitch, explaining why they are here and how their services can help tackle some of the sector’s ongoing challenges.
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Networking and business meetingsNetworking Area75 mins15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.
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Main Room40 mins
- Outcomes & Impact
This candid session brings together a diverse group of students to share the realities behind the modern university experience; exploring where institutions are getting it right, where disconnects remain, and what practical changes would have the greatest impact. From belonging and communication to academic flexibility, digital learning experiences, and trust in institutional leadership, this session offers senior leaders a direct and unfiltered perspective on the priorities shaping the student experience in 2026 and beyond. Attendees are invited to submit questions to our student panellists during the panel to ensure the discussion focuses on the issues that matter most.
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Main Room20 mins
Main and breakout room presentations
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Networking lunch40 minsAn opportunity to connect with your peers and suppliers to talk over the learnings from the event. Lunch is served buffet style and a range of options are available to cater for different dietary requirements.
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Main Room30 mins
- Strategy & Leadership
- Operations & Service Delivery
As financial and operational pressures intensify, universities are being challenged to reconsider where independence genuinely adds value and where collaboration could deliver better outcomes. From shared services and procurement to technology and infrastructure, there are growing opportunities to reduce duplication and create capacity for transformation. This session will explore where collective approaches make strategic sense, what prevents collaboration from progressing in practice, and how institutions can balance greater efficiency with autonomy, identity and service quality.
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Breakout Room 130 mins
- Finance & Sustainability
- Outcomes & Impact
The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) represents a significant structural shift for higher education, with the potential to reshape how learners engage with universities throughout their lives. But while the ambition around flexible, modular and skills-focused learning is growing, many institutions are grappling with what implementation will mean in practice. How do we think beyond the conventional degree model to consider how lifelong learning fits into strategy, operating models, and identity? This session will explore the operational and strategic questions universities must address as the sector moves towards LLE implementation.
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Breakout Room 230 mins
- Workforce, Skills & Culture
Financial pressure is forcing universities to confront decisions that were easier to defer in more stable times. Which courses should institutions continue to subsidise? When should provision be consolidated or closed? How should leaders balance demand, financial contribution, academic mission, regional need and student outcomes? And how can universities make these decisions strategically rather than through crisis-driven cost cutting?
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Breakout Room 330 mins
- Digital, Data & AI
- Outcomes & Impact
Students are already integrating AI into how they study – often far faster than institutional policy and pedagogy can adapt. This session explores what leaders need to understand about emerging student behaviours, and how universities can redesign learning and teaching to prepare graduates for an AI-enabled workplace. Featuring insight from Southampton Solent University’s academic transformation programme, The Career-Ready Revolution, this session will examine the opportunities and practical realities of embedding AI meaningfully into pedagogy.
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Main Room20 mins
Main and breakout room presentations
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Networking and business meetingsNetworking Area75 mins15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.
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Main Room60 mins
- Strategy & Leadership
This interactive roundtable session offers attendees the opportunity to select from a range of focussed discussion topics. Delegates will be invited ahead of the event to submit the key challenges, pr ...
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Main Room5 mins
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125 mins
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Drinks reception and networking dinnerMain Room150 minsNetworking sessions – throughout the event we host a networking lunch as well as a dinner and drinks reception to give you ample opportunity to connect with your peers and suppliers over the learnings from the event. Dinner is served in formal-style seating to a set menu. Our delegate team will speak to you to ensure we cater for any specific dietary requirements.
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Main Room5 mins
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Main Room40 mins
- Strategy & Leadership
- Operations & Service Delivery
The need to rethink how universities operate has never been more urgent. For many institutions, they represent a structural challenge to how universities operate and deliver value in the long-term. As ...Chairperson
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Main Room20 mins
Main and breakout room presentations
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Networking and business meetingsNetworking Area60 mins15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.
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Main Room30 mins
- Strategy & Leadership
- Outcomes & Impact
Student employability strategies often focus on careers provision, skills development and employer engagement, but are universities overlooking a more fundamental barrier? Students who feel connected to their course, peers and academic community are more likely to engage, participate and feel confident about their future. This session will explore how universities can deliberately build belonging and community throughout the student lifecycle, and whether cohort-building should be treated as a core student-success and employability strategy rather than an optional enhancement.
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Breakout Room 130 mins
- Digital, Data & AI
- Operations & Service Delivery
Universities increasingly want to use data and AI to improve decision-making, personalise services and unlock efficiencies, yet many continue to operate across fragmented systems and inconsistent sources of information. Without trusted and accessible data, ambitions around AI and digital transformation risk being built on unstable foundations. This session will explore how institutions can strengthen data governance and integration, establish clearer accountability for data quality, and create the foundations needed to turn better information into better decisions for students, staff and the institution.
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Breakout Room 230 mins
- Operations & Service Delivery
- Outcomes & Impact
Student services teams are under pressure from every direction. Yet, the complexity of student need is evolving, requiring personalised support. This session will explore how universities are responding to the challenge of delivering effective, high-quality student support in an increasingly resource-constrained environment. Moving beyond short-term fixes, the discussion will examine whether traditional student services models remain sustainable, and what institutions may need to redesign operationally and digitally to meet future demand. -
Breakout Room 330 mins
- Digital, Data & AI
- Operations & Service Delivery
As universities accelerate digital transformation and AI adoption, cybersecurity is becoming a critical enabler of institutional resilience. Yet many institutions continue to balance innovation with legacy systems, complex technology estates, and growing cyber threats. Drawing on practical experience from a large research-intensive university, this workshop will explore how leaders can embed cybersecurity into governance, culture, and strategic planning. Michael Knight, Chief Information Security Officer from The University of Manchester, will examine how to modernise securely while embedding shared responsibility for managing risk across the institution.
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Main Room40 mins
- Strategy & Leadership
- Outcomes & Impact
Universities are operating in an increasingly complex and politically charged environment. From new OfS free speech requirements and Condition E6 to heightened scrutiny surrounding campus tensions linked to national and global events, leaders are being challenged to balance legal compliance, academic freedom, and community cohesion in an incredibly visible landscape. This session will explore how universities can uphold freedom of speech while maintaining constructive campus relations and inclusive learning environments. Speakers will examine the practical realities of responding to controversial speakers, protests, online discourse, and politically sensitive issues, alongside the operational, governance, and reputational risks institutions must increasingly navigate.
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Main Room5 mins
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Networking lunch50 mins
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