Heads of University Management & Administration Network in Europe

HUMANE Annual Conference

The University of the future: People, values, organisation 

Hosted by the University of Amsterdam, NL

12-14 June 2024 – Registrations closed

The HUMANE Annual Conference is a unique opportunity to shape the future of Higher Education professional services, whilst providing the chance to grow your networks, engage with senior leaders and enhance your understanding of key developments in the sector. 

Governments, the general public and the private sector are looking to our universities to deliver for society. The demands have grown significantly, yet the capacity of universities to deliver is sometimes questioned. The Higher Education sector is often seen as self-centred and indecisive, in some systems focusing too much on research (at the expense of education and lifelong learning), relying on public funding yet failing to develop sustainable solutions for society and to demonstrate sufficient economic and societal impact.

The Conference facilitates international connections between the most senior leaders of professional services in universities (Directors of Administration, Chief Operating Officers) and their senior management. For HUMANE residential school alumni, it is the next step to advance your career in higher education.

As a sector we need to enhance our brand and value proposition to regain public confidence and ensure operational sustainability. In an age of major disruption and significant acceleration in digital transformation we need to make profound changes and invest in capital infrastructure to build capability to address the challenges of our times.

We need to attract, develop and retain high skilled people and talent in a highly competitive labour market to pioneer innovative ways to teach and research. The relationship with our academic colleagues needs to shift from transactional to transformational partnerships and shared delivery models.

The Annual Conference will challenge our existing view of the Higher Education sector and stimulate discussion across a broad range of relevant areas, including:

  • Developing new business and operating models to be more agile and creative as organisations.
  • Embracing the opportunities presented by fast upscaling developments in Artificial intelligence.
  • Designing more relevant, flexible, and value-oriented educational pathways for (lifelong) learners.
  • Educating learners for the future labour market to address persistent talent and skill shortages.
  • Leading as responsible civic contributors to our modern society.
  • Driving societal change through thought leadership and ambitious research and innovation programmes to contribute to the fourth technology-driven Industrial Revolution.

The programme is available here.