Newlead project gathered more than 50 higher education leaders in two focus groups organised in Barcelona and Reykjavík

In Barcelona, two experienced speakers gave inspirational talks. On the first day, Prof. Dr. Marijk van der Wende, Distinguished Faculty Professor of Higher Education, Utrecht University & Programme leader UGOV21, Universities of the Netherlands gave her vision on strategic approaches to leadership development.

On the second day, as a keynote speech, Marc Correa, Dean of Executive Education and Professor of the Department of People Management and Organization at Esade Business School-Ramon Llull University gave the talk "Hope-based leadership: a new vision for higher education institutions". Dr. Correa emphasised that hope is the fundamental leadership driver that will help higher education institutions to remain relevant in our societies.

In Reykjavik, Prof Dr. Simon Mercado, Executive Vice President, and Dean for Executive Education, Corporate & External Relations from ESCP Business School, gave a lecture about leadership styles and megatrends impacting HE. Afterwards, participants took part in a workshop on internationalisation.

The second day of the focus group started with an inspiring lecture on change management by Professor Dr. Árelía Eydís, from the University of Iceland. She spoke about self-leadership, team-leadership and future-leadership and raised essential points such as the need of trust, well-being and happiness when exerting leadership.