Post by European University Association

The first day of #EUA2026AC is over. Some key takeaways: EUA President Josep M. Garrell introduced this year’s topic in his welcome address: “This year we will be addressing a topic that is at the very core of universities’ raison d’être: cooperation. Working across institutions, sectors and borders, in education, research and innovation, is an essential part of universities’ work.” Yeditepe University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Durman stated: “Today, universities assume a similar mission: bringing together people, disciplines, institutions, and ideas across borders, and transforming diversity into a source of strength, creativity, and shared progress.” Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva addressed the conference attendees in a video message, before the two keynote speeches. Maximilian Conrad (Háskóli Íslands) explained that populism is described as a thin ideology, built on the binary distinction between elites and “the authentic, pure people.” He stressed that liberal democracies need to show resolve in protecting democratic values and that universities must be present in the public sphere and communicate research output. Niels G. Mede (Wageningen University & Research) explored 3 key questions to frame the debate. Conlusions: there is no general crisis of trust in science, but trust in scientists is polarized along sociopolitical views; universities can rely on largely supportive publics, but need to protect their employees and reputation. The first plenary explored trust in science, public backlash against academia, and the role of universities in responding to these challenges. For Maximillian, this is a moment for critical self-reflection at universities. We need to engage with arguments that are not comfortable and ask: who is making these claims, is it legitimate critique, where does it come from, and what is the intention behind it? Niels argued that universities and researchers need more openness and inclusion, with more formats involving all society. He noted that much of university outreach and communication is too-down. According to Sijbolt Noorda, the most important thing today is to maximise trust in what you do. Reach out to your city, region, neighbours: universities don’t exist for themselves. The message was echoed by Daciana Pop, European Students'​ Union (ESU), who agreed that universities should get closer to society, focus on their societal mission, and stand up against anything that contributes to the erosion of democracy, democratic values and academic freedom. In plenary II, Eva Prof. Dr. Waller (RheinMain University of Applied Sciences) highlighted two key factors for internal cooperation: communication and knowledge. Get to know each other, communicate, and discover topics or issues of common interest. For Pio Fenton (Munster Technological University), universities can’t rely on crises to ensure collaboration happens. When collaboration is approached proactively and systematically, trust follows the experience.