Laurea Contributing to the Development of Future Leadership in the PIONEER Alliance

At the turn of September and October, Laurea experts participated in a leadership training programme hosted by PIONEER partner institution Avans University of Applied Sciences: Human-Centered Leadership in Higher Education in Europe – The Future of Leadership in an Uncertain Era.

The programme is part of the activities of PIONEER Alliance Work Package 3, which is led by Laurea in collaboration with TH Köln. The work package aims to develop transformative, inclusive, and human-centred leadership while strengthening higher education institutions’ capacity to address societal challenges and build more equitable ways of working.

Laurea hosted the alliance’s first leadership training programme in 2025, followed by ISCTE in Portugal in 2026. The training week at Avans sought to build a shared understanding of future leadership, provide insights into the partner institution’s practices, and strengthen international networks. Participants also had the opportunity to compare different leadership structures and explore how higher education institutions can work together to tackle the complex challenges facing society.

Laurea’s experts described the training week as well-designed and highly practical. Company visits, workshops, discussions, and networking opportunities received particular praise. For many participants, the visit offered their first concrete experience of PIONEER collaboration in practice and helped them gain a deeper understanding of the opportunities the alliance provides for international cooperation.

Shared Principles as a Common Goal

According to Taru Maamies, who coordinates this PIONEER work package at Laurea, future leadership will place particular emphasis on challenge-based approaches, ecosystem collaboration, and inclusivity. At the same time, leading transformation requires the ability to critically reflect on one’s own practices and learn together across organisational boundaries.

“The goal is not to make the European higher education institutions within the PIONEER Alliance identical. Instead, we aim to develop shared principles and leadership practices that bring together diverse institutions while building on their unique strengths and organisational cultures. It is precisely through understanding our differences and learning from one another that we can create a strong foundation for the future of the alliance,” says Maamies.

This work is further supported by the joint PIONEER Alliance strategy currently under development. The strategy will define future priorities, direction, and focus for advancing leadership, leadership development, and leadership capabilities across the alliance. The objective is to create leadership models that support societal impact, international collaboration, and the capacity to address future challenges together.