IN-PERSON EVENTS

Digital Education Council Global Summit

The Digital Education Council Global Summit 2026

The Digital Education Council Global Summit 2026 will be taking place from 7–8 December 2026 in Madrid, Spain, hosted by IE University, a DEC member institution.

Now in its third year, the Global Summit returns under the theme Shaping the Intelligence Age — a working forum for higher education leaders and innovators to compare what is working, confront what is failing, and define the choices institutions must now make.

Convening DEC member institutions from over 42 countries alongside leaders from academia, international organisations, and governments, the Summit will advance dialogue on the positive use of technology in higher education and skills development, while supporting global advocacy, institutional resilience, innovation, and equity.

Programme Overview

Day 1 — Monday, 7 December · Auditorium, IE Tower
A working day of intelligence briefings, parallel taskforces organised by institutional role, and main-stage synthesis sessions.

Day 2 — Tuesday, 8 December · Auditorium, IE Tower
A day built around commitment and action, closing with the assembly of a unified Intelligence Age Agenda.

Dinner Reception

Attendance

The Summit is by invitation only. Places are allocated to DEC member institutions. The DEC team will be in touch with member contacts directly to coordinate attendance.

Files

Digital Education Council Global Summit 2026 Agenda

Download Material

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f1d299b87bcc50550a6367/6a2ad040ba8ef9e5253a26d7_From%20AI%20Strategy%20to%20Institutional%20Enablement.pdf

Speakers

Baba Sheba

Director of Digital Transformation City St George's, University of London

Begoña González Cuesta

Dean of Education and Academic Experience
IE University

Brian Squire

Dean of Business School
University of Bristol

Cristina Fernandez

Executive Director Strategy & Development Provost Office
IE University

Cynthia Bowles

Director of Digital Learning
IE University

Dale Pike

Associate Vice Provost for Technology-enhanced Learning & Online Strategies
Virginia Tech

David Ross

President and CEO
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

Edinaldo Tebaldi

Vice President for Strategy and Partnerships
Bryant University

Eduardo Ayllon

AI Hub Manager
Universidad Adolfo Ibañez

Emiliano Ricciardi

Vice Rector Academic Affairs
Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca

Gail Matthews-DeNatale

Deputy Director
Northeastern University

Geoffrey Lonca

Associate Director of the Sustainable Transition Hub
IE University

Jaime Vatter

Vice-Rector, Academic
Universidad de Las Américas, Chile

Karine Le Joly

Director of Digital Learning Strategy and Innovation
HEC Paris

Leonardo Caporarello

Rector's Delegate for Digital Learning
Bocconi University

Liz Smith

Director of Learner Experience
The University of New South Wales

Lorena Blasco-Arcas

Co-founder and Director of TRACIS (Transformative Research on AI for Companies, Individuals, and Society)
ESCP Business School

Mahinour Amin

Director of Teaching and Learning Center
Ajman University

Martín Rodríguez Jugo

General Manager IE Lifelong Learning | Executive Education & Digital Learning
IE University

Martina Pasquini

Director of Learning Innovation
IE University

Mohammad Fteiha

Director of Al Ain Campus, and Director of the Center for Faculty Development and Learning Innovation
Abu Dhabi University

Nancy Turner

Interim Associate Provost, Teaching Innovation & Strategic Initiatives
University of Saskatchewan

Nicola Wilkin

Academic Director - Digital Education and Equity
University of Birmingham

Panos Vlachopoulos

Vice Provost for Education and Student Experience
University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Raquel Bernal

President
Universidad de los Andes

Robin Ajdari

Executive Vice-President Data, Innovation-Experimentation and Digital Transformation
ESSEC Business School

Russell Gruen

Associate Provost (Health and Medical Sciences)
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Sean McMinn

Director of Center for Education Innovation
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Sherri Castanzo

Deputy CIO for Digital Innovation
Bowdoin College

Simon Bates

Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning
University of British Columbia

Susannah Quinsee

Vice-President (Digital and Student Experience)
City St George's, University of London

Tamas Makany

Associate Provost (Teaching and Learning Innovation)
Singapore Management University

The Digital Education Council Global Summit 2025

The Digital Education Council Global Summit 2025 took place from 4–5 November 2025 in Hong Kong, hosted by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a founding member of DEC.

In its second year, the Summit brought together 200 higher education leaders from 82 member institutions across 25 countries, marking a critical moment for global higher education as institutions confront rapid AI-driven transformation.

Anchored in the theme When Change is the Only Constant, the 2025 Summit examined four strategic lenses for institutional transformation:

Defining Change

Understanding the forces shaping higher education

Implementing Change

Translating strategy into action

Teaching Change

Equipping students and educators for the future

Measuring Change

Developing metrics for institutional and societal impact

Key Outcomes and Strategic Takeaways

This report synthesises insights generated across two days of open debates, panel discussions, live polling, and keynotes. Conversations were transcribed, organised into key themes, and analysed to identify key patterns, examples, challenges, and recommendations raised by participants.