Prospective European students are more likely to consider sustainability in their decision-making than students of other regions. Today’s students have a purpose-driven mindset for change-making, and the role of higher education is to trust them to do that and nurture them with the skills and knowledge to make a change.

Priority should lie in developing lifelong learning and the skills to remain resilient and agile in the face of future changes we cannot yet predict. While higher education institutions are focused on digital literacy, the most vital skills are learning how to question and interrogate AI tools for the most authentic and valuable outputs.

Interdisciplinary learning was a key theme across the conference, as many higher education leaders spoke about the importance of interconnectedness in the face of complex multidisciplinary challenges and providing students with internships and work experiences to understand how teamwork plays a key role in problem-solving.

The skills gap has become an increasingly prominent conversation in higher education thought leadership, and speakers discussed the power of AI in helping institutions meet the pace of industrial and technological change. AI tools have the potential to help extract skills from the curriculum and collate masses of data from industry to pinpoint the areas where institutions can be stronger in developing and communicating key skills.

For business education specifically, conversations focused on the integration of responsible leadership, moving beyond environmental sustainability to develop services and spaces that feel inclusive and comfortable to a broader diversity of students and customers. Business schools have an opportunity to train students to integrate different types of people into the workplace and work past tokenism to create practical solutions.

The summit highlighted the important task of redesigning institutions for the future, considering global shifts in technological innovation, environmental and social sustainability, and international student mobility. Agility and flexibility will be key to any future we envision, both for higher education institutions and students.

There was a rallying cry for higher education institutions to integrate agile learning models that are responsive to the world around it. As centres for knowledge, institutions should be positioned to set ambitious goals for the countries and regions they are located in, setting a precedent for policymakers to pay attention and make the changes that are needed for the sector to thrive.

Our team is excited to implement these insights to foster educational excellence and leadership, contributing to shaping the business leaders of tomorrow.