Graduate education is undergoing rapid transformation. At the 2025 Global Summit in Quebec, we examined how generative artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are reshaping student success. Yet AI is only one of many forces driving change. Evolving student and faculty expectations for interdisciplinary collaboration, new modes of delivering education, shifting funding landscapes, changing workforce demands, and a host of other pressures are prompting graduate education leaders to reconsider long-standing structures and practices.
The 2026 Global Summit will focus on this structural transformation: how graduate leaders can innovate responsibly while upholding commitments to quality, equity, and access. Discussions will explore core elements of graduate education—including admissions, program design and delivery, departmental organization, and the roles of theses and dissertations—and consider how these foundational components must adapt to meet emerging needs.
The meeting will be divided into six panels discussing important subtopics including:
- Structural changes to graduate education across various local, regional, national, and transnational contexts.
- Reinventing admissions for inclusion and talent discovery.
- Designing interdisciplinary, impact-driven programs.
- Flexible delivery for a changing graduate population.
- Reimagining dissertations, theses, and capstones for the 21st century learner.
- Changing models and definitions of student success to align with learner goals and workforce need