Program Guide
Universities in the Age of Polycrisis:
Navigating AI, Geopolitics and the Future of Global Talent.
The 21st century university is no longer a stable institution navigating occasional crises. It is a resilient system operating in an era of continuous disruption. From geopolitical tensions and climate pressures to rapid technological breakthroughs such as generative AI, today’s world is increasingly shaped by what scholars describe as a polycrisis, the convergence of multiple, interconnected challenges that simultaneously affect economies, societies, and institutions.
By bringing together academic leaders from around the world, the Convention will foster dialogue, share perspectives, and envision the future role of universities in a rapidly transforming global landscape.
Convention Tracks
- Institutional resilience and crisis readiness
- Adaptive leadership and governance
- Strategic decision-making in uncertain environments
- Generative AI in higher education
- New models of teaching and assessment
- Preparing students for an AI-driven economy
- Skills for a complex global economy
- Entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary education
- Responsible and future-ready leadership
- Geopolitics and academic collaboration
- International mobility and global campuses
- New models of global cooperation
- Global positioning strategies
- The evolving role of rankings and accreditations
- Strengthening international reputation
The detailed agenda, including speakers and session formats, will be announced progressively.
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Monday, November 16
Tuesday, November 17
Wednesday, November 18
Thursday, November 19
Friday, November 20
17:00 - 19:00
EWC2026 Official Registration
Hôtel du Palais - Entrance, Registration Desk
19:00 - 21:30
Networking
Welcome Networking Reception
Hôtel du Palais
08:00 - 09:00
Networking
Networking Breakfast
Hôtel du Palais - Dining Room
09:00 - 09:30
Opening
Official Opening Ceremony & Welcome Address
Main Auditorium
09:30 - 09:45
Special address
09:45 - 11:00
Panel Session 1
Leadership in Times of Disruption
- Institutions grappling with new financial realities, workforce challenges and technological disruption, against a backdrop of declining enrolment and geopolitical uncertainty
- Governance in the age of AI: who decides, who is accountable?
- Hiring freezes now widespread, merit pools shrinking, how do deans lead through internal pressures while projecting external strength?
Main Auditorium
11:00 - 11:30
Networking
Coffee Break & Networking
Foyer
11:30 - 11:45
Global AI address
What AI adoption across thousands of institutions is actually teaching us?
11:45 - 13:00
Panel Session 2
AI and the Future of Learning
- AI is no longer optional, it is now woven into core curricula at schools like Wharton, Stanford GSB and MIT Sloan, integrated into finance, marketing, operations and strategy courses
- AI-specific degrees and short-term credentials in high-demand areas are rising fast, with many schools adopting certificate programmes in AI and fintech as fast-track options
- AI raises governance and ethical questions institutions are still struggling to answer, 93% plan to expand AI use within two years
Main Auditorium
13:00 - 14:30
Networking
Networking Lunch
Hôtel du Palais - Dining Room
14:30 - 15:30
Roundtable discussion
Deans in the Hot Seat: Governance Under Pressure
2026 has torn up the old playbook. Student applications are shifting from one region to another, temporary hiring freezes are becoming permanent, and the first big decisions made by AI, in admissions, workloads and grading, are starting to go wrong in ways everyone can see. The slow, committee-by-committee way schools have been run for decades simply can't move fast enough anymore. In this round table, leaders skip the success stories and speak plainly: who took emergency control and what it cost them, what they scrapped and what they rebuilt, and who is held responsible when an AI system makes the wrong call.
15:35 - 16:45
Panel Session 3
Reputation, Rankings & Global Visibility
Rankings still matter, but they're being pushed from "who is the best" toward "who creates the most value," and visibility is becoming about proof, not broadcast.
- Reputation and rankings still drive student recruitment, and with visa barriers rising, global visibility has never been more strategically critical, but what reputation measures is shifting from institutional prestige to the value a school creates for the individual.
- When knowledge is instantly available and a degree alone no longer proves what someone can do, reputation increasingly rests on evidence: graduate outcomes, demonstrable skills and career transformation, rather than heritage or brand.
- Students are more cautious, strategic and selective than ever, weighing schools on transparency, flexibility and genuine career alignment; the concrete signals that now count for more than reach or name recognition.
Main Auditorium
19:00 - 22:00
Ceremony
Eduniversal Palmes of Excellence Ceremony
Hôtel du Palais
08:00 - 09:00
Networking
Networking Breakfast
Hôtel du Palais - Dining Room
09:00 - 10:15
Panel Session 4
Global Partnerships in a Fragmented World
- International applications to programmes in Canada, the UK and the US declined in 2025, while they increased in other parts of Europe and Asia — alliances must be redrawn accordingly
- Global ageing patterns and longer working lives are reshaping demand for upskilling and reskilling in ways that favour lifelong learning, a new avenue for cross-border cooperation
Main Auditorium
10:20 - 10:50
Keynote
The Geopolitical Future of Higher Education
Main Auditorium
11:00 - 11:30
Networking
Coffee Break & Networking
Foyer
11:30 - 12:45
Panel Session 5
Talent and the Future of Work
- Companies are moving away from generic job boards, favouring platforms that match candidates to specific skills - universities are expected to deliver "day-one ready" talent
- The DBA as a leadership accelerator, MBA and DBA students balancing careers, families and academic demands face particular burnout risks that leading schools are now addressing
- The MBA fell from the main preference of 63% of prospective students in 2023 to 52% in 2024, the rise of specialised degrees is reshaping how schools position their portfolio
Main Auditorium
12:45 - 14:15
Networking
Networking Lunch
Hôtel du Palais - Dining Room
14:15 - 15:00
Case Study
From Handshake to Alliance
Behind every cross-border partnership announcement is a harder story: how it was actually built, governed and paid for, and what nearly broke it. In this case study, two partner institutions walk through one real alliance from both sides, sharing the numbers, the governance choices and the moments of friction that a success story usually leaves out. Participants are invited to bring their own partnership challenges and test them against what worked, and what didn't, in the room.
Conference Room A
15:00 - 16:00
Research Forum
Management Research at a Crossroads
Management research faces a defining question: as AI transforms how knowledge is produced and the demand for real-world relevance grows, what should scholarship be for?
- A global stock-take of where management research stands today, its strengths, its blind spots, and the widening gap between academic rigour and practical impact.
- How AI is reshaping the research process itself, from literature review to analysis, and what that means for originality, method and what counts as a contribution.
- The shifting role of the business school as a knowledge producer, and how research feeds back into teaching, reputation and societal value.
Main Auditorium
16:00 - 16:20
Networking
Coffee Break & Networking
16:20 - 17:00
Focus session
Future Horizons
Outlook: the university of 2030
Main Auditorium
Social & Cultural Activity
Wine tasting & local gastronomy experience
Curated by local experts/school - TBC
TBD
20:00 - 23:30
Gala Dinner
Eduniversal Gala Awards Ceremony — Top 45 Business Schools Worldwide
Hôtel du Palais - Grand Ballroom
07:30 - 08:15
Networking
Networking Breakfast
Hôtel du Palais - Dining Room
08:45 - 09:30
Transfer
Company visit: WIPRO LAUAK
09:30 - 09:45
Company visit
Welcome & WIPRO LAUAK Group presentation
WIPRO LAUAK - Where Basque craftsmanship meets global aerospace
Get ready for a guided visit to Wipro Lauak in Hasparren, a short drive from Biarritz. Now a family group of nearly fifty years, Wipro Lauak has grown through a prudent, controlled and values-driven long-term strategy into a global tier-one aerospace supplier, building parts and structures for the industry's largest aircraft makers across sites in France, Portugal, Canada, Mexico and India. Having reached the critical size that lets it innovate, invest and share risk with its customers, and now backed by its alliance with India's Wipro Aerospace, the group offers a rare, up-close look at how a Basque family business scales into a multinational, how talent, know-how and innovation are cultivated, and how aerospace supply chains hold firm in an era of geopolitical change.
Hasparren
09:45 - 10:45
Panel Session 6
What Industry Really Needs from Educators
This convention argues that an institution's worth is measured less by prestige than by the value it creates for the people it educates. This panel puts that claim to the test from the other side of the table. Industry leaders, alongside educators from across business, engineering and beyond, set out what graduates actually arrive able to do, where the gap lies between the classroom and the workplace, and what institutions would have to change to close it. A candid demand-side reality check, and a live look at how education, industry partnerships turn learning into professional value.
11:00 - 12:30
Company visit
Guided site tour, Hasparren HQ
12:30 - 12:45
Transfer
Transfer to Trinquet Berria
68 rue Francis Jammes 64240 HASPARREN
12:45 - 13:15
Cultural
Basque pelota demonstration
A live demonstration of Basque pelota at the historic Trinquet Berria, where local players showcase the speed and skill of the game that lies at the heart of the region's sporting culture, a vivid taste of living Basque heritage before lunch.
13:15 - 14:30
Networking
Networking Lunch
Maison de Pierre / Hôtel Berria
19:30 - 22:00
Closing Dinner
How Arts & Luxury Schools Conquer the World?
Exclusive Experimental luxury evening
Hôtel du Palais
22:00
Official announcement of EWC 2027 (20th edition)
09:00 - 15:00
Networking