Digital Education Council Global Summit 2025
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 will once again convene DEC members and global higher education leaders to exchange strategic insights, shape policy, and advance innovation across education and workforce development.
Speaker list and programme agenda to be announced.
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.
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
Implementing Change
Teaching Change
Measuring Change
Key Outcomes and Strategic Takeaways
Speakers

Ajit Chauhan
Amity University Online

Brian Stout
Learning and Teaching
Western Sydney University

Cristina Fernández Tesoro
Strategy & Development
IE University

Dale Pike
Virginia Tech

Rupendra Paliwal
Bryant University

Fr. Roberto C. Yap, SJ
Ateneo de Manila University

Gail Matthews-DeNatale
Northeastern University

Himanshu Rai
Indian Institute of Management
Indore

James Genone
Learning Strategy
Northeastern University

Jay S. Siegel
The University of Hong Kong

José Manuel Martínez-Sierra
UPF Barcelona School of Management

Liandi van den Berg
North-West University

Lori Hocking
Global Partnerships for Adelaide University

Matthew Hirschey
Center for Computational Thinking
Duke University

Nancy Turner
Teaching Innovation and Strategic Initiatives (Interim)
University of Saskatchewan

Rick Ginsberg
School of Education
University of Kansas

Robin Ajdari
Innovation-Experimentation & Digital Transformation
ESSEC Business School

Rohit Verma
University of South Carolina
Darla Moore School of Business

Sean McMinn
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
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Sean Omar Ferguson
Strategy and Innovation
Bentley University

Simon Bates
The University of British Columbia

Simon Sheather
University of Kentucky's Gatton
College of Business and Economics

Suzanne Crew
University of New England

Tamas Makany
Teaching & Learning Innovation
Singapore Management University

Vincent Liardi
Pearson

Yike Guo
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

