Rising to the challenge of sustainability
The Global Presidents’ Forum (GPF), chaired by ICDE President Mark Nichols, is an exclusive leadership space for senior executives from ICDE member institutions and organisations.
The 2026 Forum will convene leaders around the theme “Sustainability: how do we respond to the big challenges?”.
Leaders need space for candid, peer-level discussion of the issues absorbing the greatest strategic attention and institutional energy.
Sustainability decisions are interconnected: financial, environmental, technological, academic and organisational choices cannot be addressed in isolation. ICDE’s global membership offers a distinctive vantage point for comparing approaches across regions and institutional models.
The Forum turns that breadth of experience into practical insight, and identifies the questions that call for continued collective work through 2027.
Many of the challenges universities face are common internationally: growing competitiveness beyond traditional regional boundaries, greater care for the physical environment, pressure to improve IT infrastructure, and constant funder demands for efficiency and social benefit.
ICDE President & Executive Director, Open Polytechnic NZ
What sits within your influence?
The Forum will connect immediate pressures with long-term institutional purpose, focusing on the choices that sit within the influence of Presidents, Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Principals and CEOs.
How to be a part of the dialogue
This virtual global forum will be conducted through two regional sessions to accommodate different time zones. The GPF 2026 will be held online via Zoom. Participants can select the session which best suits their time zone and calendar.
This event is an exclusive leadership space for senior executives from ICDE member institutions and organisations.
5 November 2026
Session 1: 09:00 – 12:00 UTC+1
Session 2: 18:00 – 21:00 UTC+1
