The aim is to facilitate academic staff with similar functions or interests to exchange and share best-practices in university governance and leadership. The initiative will contribute to the capacity development of the academic staff involved, and will, in turn, cortribute to strengthen the governance of partner universities in pursuing change in their organisational culture. 
 
During this week, participants will have multiple opportunities to discuss with their peers both in paris and in group discussions, as well as to deepen their understanding of key issues linked to academic governance and leadership. The main objective is to facilitate cooperation and the possible development of twin/sister institutions or departments among all the actors involved. 
 
Participants will  come from several institutions including VUB, Universidade Nova De Lisboa, University of Tampere, UNICA, Middle East Technical University, Peking University, Beijing Normal University, Tongji University, Yunnan Normal University, and National Academy of Education Administration. 
 
In addition, on 29 September, the LEAD project will organise a seminar "EU-China Higher Education Research Collaboration: Collective Leadership", in cooperation with VUB Confucius Institute. Around 40 academic leaders will gather to discuss key issues related to the establishment of research collaboration projects and its collective leadership. 
 
Prof.Dr. Sonja Snacken, VUB Vice-Rector International Policy, will open the event and keynote speeches will be given by both European and Chinese academic leaders. The programme includes a session on EU funding opportunities, university research policies and strategies, and it will allow an exchange of best practices on cooperation and leadership under collaborative research projects. The draft programme of the seminar is available now. 
=> Participation is free of charge and registration via email: eche@vub.ac.be
 
What is LEAD? 
Initiated in 2015, the LEAD project is an Erasmus+ KA2 Capacity Building Project in the field of Higher Education, supported by the European Commission. Coordinated by VUB, LEAD brings together 5 European partners and 5 Chinese partners, together with 10 associate partners from Europe and China. 
The project aims to strengthen cooperation and enhance the capacity of EU and Chinese higher education institutions in governance and academic leadership in the context of innovation and internationalisation of higher education. The goal is to foster a better understanding of academic leadership approaches in the EU and China by developing and implementing training and capacity development for academic leaders in areas such as policy making, strategic planning and change management. For more information, please visit the LEAD Project website