Improving Teaching Across Borders: EUGLOH Collaboration Showcased at ICED 2026
A shared focus: AI literacy and academic development
At the heart of their contributions lies a pressing issue for universities worldwide: how to respond meaningfully to rapid technological and pedagogical change.
Gregor Maxwell’s session, “Designing AI Literacy as a Transversal Competence”, tackles the need to embed artificial intelligence understanding across disciplines as a core competence for all staff and students. “Universities are still struggling to respond to the emergence of AI,” Gregor Maxwell explains. “Students and staff often have very mixed levels of understanding. AI literacy helps us navigate both the opportunities and the risks.” His work draws on years of experience supporting academic staff, who increasingly ask both practical and ethical questions about tools like ChatGPT on topics ranging from assessment integrity to responsible data use.
Meanwhile, the symposium “Enriching Pedagogical Training Across Borders”, chaired and moderated by Maria Larsson, highlights how universities can strengthen support for early-career academics through structured pedagogical development. Emerging from a highly collaborative partnership between educational developers across several EUGLOH member universities, the work underscores a shared commitment to the idea that high-quality education begins with well-prepared educators. Contributors from the EUGLOH universities will also actively participate in the symposium, bringing together diverse institutional perspectives and experiences.
Together, their sessions reflect two sides of the same challenge: equipping universities – not just students – with the skills to adapt.
From workshop to international stage
Their ideas began within the collaborative framework of the EUGLOH Alliance. Both projects trace their origins to activities within the Alliance’s Work Package 2 (WP2), which focuses on “Transnational Teaching and Learning”.
Maria initiated a three-day workshop that brought together educational developers from across EUGLOH member universities. Participants arrived with concrete examples of how they support early-career teachers – ranging from structured 200-hour training programmes in some countries to minimal provision in others. “We put everything on the table,” Maria Larsson recalls. “We compared, discussed and identified shared challenges. It became clear how much we could learn from each other.”
Gregor Maxwell’s work evolved through similar exchanges. After participating in EUGLOH workshops and collaborative teaching initiatives – such as the ABC Learning Design training – he found common ground with colleagues across institutions. A pivotal moment came during the 2025 EUGLOH Annual Summit in Porto, where a multi-country discussion on AI in higher education revealed widespread uncertainty – and opportunity. “From those conversations, we realised we should take this further,” he remembers.
Collaboration as a catalyst
“EUGLOH gave us the framework that enabled these collaborations,” Maria says. “I had the idea for the workshop, but the Alliance made it possible to bring people together.” Gregor agrees, highlighting both the human and structural elements: “There are great people across the network, and there are resources to actually do something together. That combination is powerful.”
The collaboration brought together institutions with very different levels of experience in staff development. “In our normal academic lives, we often seek out people who think like us,” Maria reflects. “Here, we were brought together through the Alliance with people that otherwise we may never have met. And that turned out to be very valuable.”
Impact beyond the conference
The acceptance of both sessions at ICED 2026 (International Consortium for Educational Development) highlights EUGLOH’s efforts in shaping the future of higher education. Both formats are deliberately interactive, reflecting a shared philosophy: progress in higher education comes through dialogue and sharing of best-practices. “It’s about taking ideas home, adapting them and improving what we do locally,” emphasises Maria.
Beyond the sessions themselves, the story of their development illustrates a broader point: alliances like EUGLOH are living networks of collaboration. The journey from workshops in Lund and Szeged to discussions in Porto and Tromsø reflects a shared commitment to improving teaching and learning across borders. “I really value the people I’ve met,” Gregor says. “Without EUGLOH, I might never have worked with them – or even visited some of these places.”
In that sense, their success at ICED 2026 represents more than two accepted proposals. It is a tangible example of how European Universities Alliances can contribute to global conversations – by connecting people, sharing knowledge and turning ideas into action.
EUGLOH Teachers Conference on Pedagogical Development at the Universidad de Alcalá
The upcoming EUGLOH Teachers Conference on Pedagogical Development, taking place in May, will provide another important platform to deepen these conversations – bringing together educators and developers from across member universities and beyond to exchange practices, reflect on shared challenges and further strengthen teaching quality. The conference will also feature Maria Larsson and Gregor Maxwell among its participants. The event highlights EUGLOH’s commitment to continuous improvement in teaching and learning.