30 April - 1 May 2026, The Manchester Deansgate, Manchester
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Registration Desk60 mins
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Main Room10 mins
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Main Room45 minsAs public trust in higher education wavers, for institutional leaders, 'value' extends beyond teaching and research: it is about delivering measurable outcomes for students, employers and their wider ...ChairpersonSpeakers
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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
AI in higher education has moved beyond experimentation; the challenge now is scaling real, measurable impact across institutions. For senior leaders, the question is becoming how to integrate AI sustainably into core operations, teaching, and decision-making. This discussion will highlight how universities have embedded AI to drive tangible outcomes, from optimising student support to using predictive analytics for strategic planning. Speakers will unpack governance and implementation, revealing what it takes to move from pilots to institution-wide adoption. How can universities manage risk and align with strategic goals to ensure return on investment?
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Main Room20 mins
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Networking lunchDownstairs40 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 minsThe concept of shared services is not new. However, with the current pressures facing higher education, shared services are emerging as a practical and strategic response. How can collaboration improv ...
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Breakout Room 130 mins
With the rollout of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) approaching, the sector is moving towards flexible, modular learning, and institutions need to consider how to respond to LLE requirements and position themselves within a broader learning ecosystem. This session explores how the University of London is translating strategic vision into practical delivery through the development of a cross-federation lifelong learning model, with stackable microcredentials as a key first step. It will highlight how digital innovation is enabling new forms of provision and supporting a more agile, student-centred approach to education.
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Breakout Room 230 mins
As AI rapidly reshapes every sector, universities must move decisively to embed competencies into the student experience. For Gen Z and Alpha, these tools are second nature. Yet access, confidence, and fluency remain uneven across the student population. Without intentional strategies, the digital divide will deepen existing inequalities. This workshop will encourage leaders to consider their role in ensuring all students can access and engage with emerging technologies. How can we design inclusive, future-focused pedagogy that keeps pace with technological and labour market shifts? Speakers will explore strategies to ensure that no student is left behind in their journey from enrolment to employment.
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Breakout Room 330 mins
Universities remain prime targets for cyberattacks, with an increased number of attacks in 2025 from well-funded and persistent sources. Institutions must protect themselves with high levels of cyber hygiene and implement measures in complex environments that minimise disruption. Speakers will also examine how effective recovery are critical to this. This workshop brings together key stakeholders to share best practice on security challenges faced, without disrupting research or straining already tight financial resources.
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Breakout Room 220 mins
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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 Room50 minsThis interactive roundtable session offers attendees the opportunity to select from a range of focussed discussion topics. Designed to foster peer-to-peer exchange, these small-group conversations wil ...
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Main Room5 mins
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135 mins
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Drinks reception and networking dinnerDownstairs150 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 minsAs higher education enters a new era defined by financial constraint, technological change and shifting learner expectations, universities must re-examine what it means to be entrepreneurial. With clo ...Chairperson
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Main Room20 mins
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Main Room30 mins
The University of Leeds online learning team will share how it reimagined recruitment and support for its growing online postgraduate market. Moving beyond on-campus-focused processes, the university developed a student-centred, agile approach to the end-to-end applicant journey for global learners. This session will explore how digital tools, data, and service design were aligned to reduce friction, enhance engagement, and improve operational efficiency, creating a more responsive and sustainable model for online programme delivery.
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Breakout Room 220 mins
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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 minsThe need to rethink how universities operate has never been more urgent. Moving beyond short-term efficiency drives, this session explores how universities can design and embed operating models that e ...
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Breakout Room 130 mins
UK universities are facing an urgent need to reinforce and diversify their international strategies. While internationalisation has long underpinned financial sustainability, the sector must now look beyond purely financial goals to achieve a more balanced approach. A year on from the 2025 Immigration White Paper, institutions are navigating intensified global competition, growing domestic scepticism towards migration, and the potential for further government reforms aimed at ‘fixing’ immigration. Against this backdrop, the session will explore how universities can remain agile and authentically welcoming to international students while preparing for continued policy volatility.
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Breakout Room 230 mins
With growing pressures on student retention, universities must make full use of the data at their fingertips. This workshop will examine what data is most useful and how these metrics can highlight what is, and isn’t, working in current support strategies to drive engagement, ensure retention and secure outcomes. A key focus will be on empowering staff to confidently utilise data in their roles, creating a culture where insight drives action. How can institutions data to identify students at risk and intervene before issues escalate with personalised support?
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Breakout Room 330 mins
AI is reshaping the workforce at pace. McKinsey’s 2025 research demonstrates organisations are redesigning roles as AI moves from pilot to strategy. Yet most remain early in adoption; and workforce impacts are still uncertain. For UK higher education, the more urgent question is not institutional efficiency, but graduate readiness. As AI transforms professions, how must universities evolve curricula to ensure students leave with the digital, data and AI capabilities required for an AI-enabled economy? This session explores how institutions can move beyond isolated modules towards embedding AI and digital fluency across disciplines.
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Main Room40 minsThis panel will bring together a diverse set of students to share their insights and experiences in higher education. Through candid conversation, they will explore the most pressing issues they faced ...
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Main Room10 mins
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Networking lunchDownstairs45 mins