The ENLIGHT Academic Leadership Programme (ALP) officially began this autumn with its first session hosted by Uppsala University from 16 to 18 September 2025. Designed for senior leaders across the ten ENLIGHT universities, the programme strengthens strategic leadership capacity, builds cross-institutional relationships and creates space to reflect on the challenges universities face in an increasingly complex world.
Over one academic year, the participants are meeting in Uppsala, Bratislava, Galway and Ghent, where each session is dedicated to a specific theme: Strategic Challenges and Academic Culture, The Future of Internationalisation in Europe and the World, Managing Change and Identity in Higher Education.
A meaningful beginning in Uppsala
The Uppsala session set a clear direction: leadership development grounded in real dialogue, practical reflection and peer learning. Participants engaged in workshops, case discussions, interactive exercises and cultural activities, creating a balance between structured input and informal exchange.
The session was rated extremely highly, with an average satisfaction score of 4.9 out of 5.
“The need for skilled leaders and engaged employees increases as complexity grows. The need to pause and reflect together with others in similar situations is significant. Often, we don’t get the time for that in a hectic everyday life. This type of activity provides space for such reflection.”
— Carin Eriksson Lindvall, Associate Professor and Head of Unit for Career and Leadership in Academia, Uppsala University
Carin also highlighted the value of an international leadership network within ENLIGHT:
“A leadership programme like this offers the opportunity to recognise and understand each other's perspectives while also raising our gaze to see the strategic challenges facing European universities. Additionally, it is valuable for ENLIGHT that more of us gain contacts and insights from across the network.”
Reflecting on the evolution from the historic U4 Leadership programme (encompassing Ghent, Groningen, Göttingen, and Uppsala) to the larger ENLIGHT framework, she added:
“When we started U4 Leadership in 2012, we saw a growing need for leadership training at a strategic level, as well as a need for the U4 network to get to know each other and develop together. … Now that I see how well it works with all the collaboration partners in ENLIGHT, I only see advantages. We learn a lot from each other and try to share responsibilities so that everything is as clear as possible. It’s indeed a learning experience in a good way.”
In the picture below are the participants of our Academic Leadership Programme during the first session in September 2025 in Uppsala.
Mentorship and leadership across generations
A key component of the programme is mentorship through reflection partners. Between each session, participants meet with a chosen colleague at their home institution to deepen their learning and translate insights into their own organisational context.
“Mentorship can provide younger leaders with new contacts and an experienced colleague who can offer perspectives on current issues. But we want to emphasise that both younger and older colleagues can give each other increased knowledge about how the organisation or the specific university work. We also want to highlight the collegial perspective here. As equal colleagues, we can contribute in different ways with our various perspectives.”
— Carin Eriksson Lindvall
Collaboration across universities: “We planned for success...and it happened.”
Programme coordination involves ten institutions working together — and early results show that this collaboration is working exceptionally well.
“The Academic Leadership Programme has been progressing extremely well and according to schedule. From the first planning meeting with all ten partner universities in September 2024 until the delivery of the first session in Uppsala in September 2025, we have been experiencing excellent co-operation between the involved parties and commitment to making this programme a success. We are delighted to experience and find from the short survey carried out that the programme start was well received by the participants and that the achievement and success we planned and hoped for actually happened.”
— Anna Westin, Career & Leadership Development Centre, Uppsala University
The follow-up survey confirms this: participants valued the mix of academic input, peer exchange, and space to reflect. Several noted that meeting colleagues from different academic cultures broadened their perspective on leadership challenges.
Next sessions
The second session will take place in Bratislava from 2 to 4 December 2025, exploring The Future of Internationalisation in Europe and the World, in synergy with the ENLIGHT General Meeting. The journey will continue in Galway and Ghent throughout spring 2026.
The ENLIGHT Academic Leadership Programme is coordinated jointly by all ten partner universities and continues a decade-long leadership development tradition originating in the U4 network.
