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Ongoing developments such as the rise of artificial intelligence, changing demographics, labour market demands and learning needs, as well as larger-scale societal shifts towards a knowledge economy have spurred reflections on how higher education can safeguard its fitness-for-purpose and relevance in the future. These reflections, in turn, have repeatedly pointed to a need for more innovative approaches to learning and teaching. This need concerns all aspects of how higher education is delivered, but the focus of this Forum will be on how staff development can be (re- )designed to facilitate innovation in learning and teaching, with systemic impact on student learning.
How can institutions develop their staff’s capacity to adequately use – and perhaps even themselves develop – innovative pedagogical methods, resources and tools? Which approaches work to give due support and recognition to early adopters, and how can their impact be evaluated? Finally, how can staff be equipped with the agility to adapt to and tackle future educational challenges, and be encouraged to become innovators themselves? These and other questions will be the focus of the 2026 edition of the European Learning & Teaching Forum.
Through a mix of plenary and parallel sessions, the Forum provides a platform for discussion and exchange of practice on how universities enhance, innovate and transform learning and teaching. The Forum also presents the work of the 2025 Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Groups. It aims to gather higher education professionals working at different levels on matters of learning and teaching to exchange and discuss institutional practice and policy developments. The Forum is an ideal event for vice-rectors for academic affairs, deans, heads of learning and teaching centres, and management involved in learning and teaching. It also welcomes students, policy makers and other stakeholders in higher education.
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), founded in 1967, is a leading research university in Portugal with 20,000 students and 1,100 faculty members.
With four campuses spread across the country (Lisbon, Porto, Braga and Viseu), 19 schools and 15 research centres, Católica provides a wide range of study possibilities, offering a complete university experience that combines tradition, modernity, proximity and an internationally driven education, with more than 113 nationalities represented, and a 97% employability rate.
UCP’s schools range from the Faculty of Theology, two Business Schools (Lisbon and Porto) andthe Faculty of Human Sciences, to the Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing (with schools in Lisbon and Porto) andthe School of Biotechnology, among others. Católica was also the first non-state-run university to have a medical school accredited by the Portuguese Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), in October 2020.
Universidade Católica Portuguesa’s mission is excellence in academic training and the cultivation of science for the common good. Taking on the principles of Christian humanism within an independent ethos that respects diversity and explores free thought, UCP pursues its mission based on three mainstays: teaching, research and innovation, as well as service and social responsibility.
UCP’s strategy focuses on a sustainable future while creating value through concepts such as the common home, fraternity and integral ecology. Its vision is to be a leading European university in critical research and transformative core teaching, and to be ranked among the best Catholic universities at global level.
Among the alumni and faculty of the Universidade Católica are recognized leaders who occupy highly ranked public positions. Católica’s alumni and faculty embody the quality of our education, inspired by their alma mater’s determination in the pursuit of ethically driven, innovative and meaningful solutions for Portugal and the world.
The call for contributions for the 2026 European Learning & Teaching Forum is now open.
