World Academic Summit hosts confirmed until 2021

The next three editions of Times Higher Education’s flagship summit will be held in partnership with ETH Zurich, the University of Toronto and New York University respectively.

The University of Toronto will host the THE World Academic Summit 2020 from 1 to 3 September 2020, while New York University (NYU) will host the following year’s event. In September, it was confirmed that the THE World Academic Summit 2019 will be held in partnership with ETH Zurich in Switzerland from 10 to 12 September 2019.

Meric Gertler, president of the University of Toronto, said he hoped that the 2020 summit would provide a “broader understanding of the importance that place plays in an increasingly digital world of higher education”.

“[I hope] that there will be a deeper appreciation for the learning opportunities that places provide, for the research opportunities that places provide, and for the opportunities for higher education institutions to engage in city building, which would be good for both the cities around them as well as, of course, the institutions themselves,” he said.

Andrew Hamilton, president of NYU, said that the 2021 summit will be centred around the theme of “trajectory” and he hopes that the discussions will “focus attention on the role of universities in the lives of their students, in the institutional trajectories of the universities, [and] in the trajectory of the communities in which the universities find themselves”.

“Perhaps the biggest and the most important trajectory of all is the trajectory of the world and that transnational, cross-continental, cross-country and cross-disciplinary collaborations that are so much part of university life...will need to increase even further in the future,” he added.

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The World Academic Summit 2019 will focus on the theme “How talent thrives”.

Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at THE, said that the three university partners are “truly world-class, global research universities that epitomise the World Academic Summit’s values”.

“The THE World Summit Series is about building a dynamic, sustainable global community of university leaders, with government and industry partners, focussed on sharing ideas, intelligence and inspiration to ensure that universities stay at the forefront of society in the future, in the way that they have done for centuries,” he said.

“Confirming the next three hosts allows us to put together coherent and connected programmes, to help ensure each summit has a clear legacy to build on. We look forward to confirming more hosts in the near future.”

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com

Register to attend the 2019 THE World Academic Summit. Early bird rate available for a limited time only.