Times Higher Education (THE) has just confirmed the agenda, line-up and released tickets for its Digital Universities Europe event on Monday 23 to Wednesday 25 October 2023, co-hosted with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Barcelona.
The title for Europe’s most prestigious digital higher education gathering is ‘The road to digital, equitable and green higher education’ and features a range of speakers including senior digital officers from universities, technology companies, governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Highlights include a keynote talk from the University of Potsdam’s (Germany) President, Oliver Günther, who will share his thoughts on the role digital technology is playing in the internationalisation of higher education in Europe.
Five other speakers of note include:
- Paz Portales, Programme coordinator (higher education), education sector, UNESCO
- Josep M Duart, President of EDEN Digital Learning Europe and Professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences at the UOC
- Kati Hagros, Chief digital officer, Aalto University (Finland)
- Antonis Mouhtaropoulos, Dean of digital learning and edtech, Metropolitan College (Greece)
- Vijay Kumar, Senior adviser to the vice-president of open learning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)
European Chief digital officers from Skema Business School (France), University of Bern (Switzerland), University of Jyväskylä (Finland) and University of Tartu (Estonia) will discuss how IT leaders’ roles are evolving as higher education undergoes digital transformation. There will also be an explorative case study examining learning analytics in higher education and the need to balance pedagogy and privacy.
The diverse agenda, which has more than 70 speakers and over 30 sessions, includes keynotes, seminars, workshops, networking opportunities and innovative digital exhibitions and takes place at the UOC headquarters in the Rambla del Poblenou, 156, Barcelona.
Anna Armengol Torío, Policy officer, Recovery and Resilience Task Force, European Commission and President of UOC Alumni, George Ubachs, Managing director, European Association of Distance Teaching Universities and Raimund Vogl, President, European University Information Systems Network are some of the key speakers from governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Charlotte Coles, THE’s Director of global events, said:
“Digital Universities Europe will be Times Higher Education’s premier event for the European digital higher education community.
“The collaboration with Universitat Oberta de Catalunya will provide ample opportunity for higher education leaders to forge new connections and discuss what future sustainable models of digital education will look like for institutions across the continent.”
Notable speakers from UOC include Lourdes Guàrdia Ortiz, Associate dean of teaching, who will explain how digital assessment can improve student success and Albert Sangrà, Director of the UNESCO chair in education and technology for social change, will discuss the lessons learned from the online university model.
Àngels Fitó, President of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), said:
“Digital Universities Europe provides a perfect framework for sharing practices and experiences relating to the digitalization of higher education. It’s an opportunity to move forward together towards European higher education that is inclusive, high quality and transformative for people, organizations and the world.”
“This is a perfect stage on which to plan steps forward that help us to educate critical and responsible citizens capable of bringing about the digital and green transition and tackling urgent challenges that affect our progress, sustainability and social well-being.”
