The central theme of the Forum in 2024 will be “From Awareness to Action: Sustainable Development in Higher Education Institutions”. Following the United Nations’ call for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there has been a growing focus on sustainable development across various social sectors, including higher education. As centres of research and innovation, and as places that foster future scientists, professionals and leaders, higher education institutions play a key role in advancing sustainable development. The DIES Forum 2024 aims to explore the role of higher education institutions in sustainable development through the lens of higher education management, addressing sustainability both within the institutions and for broader sustainable development contexts.

The DIES Alumni Forum is meant to bring together DIES alumni to share views and perspectives on recent developments in higher education as well as to exchange practices and discuss pressing issues in the dynamic field of higher education management and its capacity building from an inter-regional perspective. The Forum will be hosted by the University of Potsdam from Germany and carried out in cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), and the German partner institutions who are implementing training courses in the DIES Programme, i.e. Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Leibniz University Hannover, University of Applied Science Osnabrück, and Saarland University.