
Leading Your University To Success 2026
Development for Academic and Institutional Leaders
Senior leaders will benefit from practical workshops in a collegiate environment that encourages reflection on their roles and responsibilities for philanthropy and external relations. Delegates will leave equipped with insights and strategies to advance their institution's vision and to foster deeper, more meaningful partnerships that will lead their university to success.
Who Should Attend
- Institutional leaders - Vice Chancellors, Rectors, Principals, Presidents, and Provosts.
- Senior academic leaders - Deans, Deputy or Pro Vice positions.
During the programme, delegates will benefit from sessions focused on the opportunities and challenges they face in their specific role. Plenary sessions offer the opportunity for wider exchanges and shared learning experiences.
Directors responsible for at least one of the advancement disciplines (fundraising, alumni relations, communications, and marketing) can attend in partnership with their academic leader.
Programme Content
The programme content will include:
- The role of university leaders in supporting your institution’s success
- Why reputation matters to universities – and what you can do about it
- Forming effective internal and external partnerships
- Making the ask
- The ethics of fundraising
- What a successful culture of philanthropy looks like and how to build or deepen it within your institution
Programme Objectives
- A strategic view of their crucial role in leading their institution’s advancement vision.
- An understanding of advancement in a multidisciplinary portfolio, encompassing fundraising, alumni relations, marketing, and communications.
- Insights into how to form partnerships and maximise external relations that support their institution’s reputation.
- A network of peers in other leadership positions within institutions across the CASE network.
Hear From the Chair
Kirsty MacDonald, Chair of the 2026 Leading Your University to Success programme, explains why she believes this learning opportunity is essential for both institutional and academic leaders to attend. She also reflects on her collaborative relationship with her institutional leader.