EUA conference 2026: University leaders discuss good practices for internal cooperation

Academic leaders at the European University Association (EUA) annual conference have stressed the importance of proactive and systematic strategies to cultivate effective internal cooperation within universities.

Speaking at a panel on internal cooperation across faculties, cultures and backgrounds at the EUA's annual conference in Istanbul on 16/04/2026, Eva Waller, President of RheinMain University of Applied Sciences (Germany), cited five main challenges to internal cooperation:

• a lack of trust between academic and professional staff or between faculties;
• a lack of communication and fatigue from reforms that lead to staff exhaustion;
• traditional structures (departments/faculties) that often deepen disciplinary expertise but hinder cross-silo work;
• governance structures that may not adequately incentivise or create conditions for broad collaboration;
• over-reliance on informal networking for collaboration, which is inequitable and vulnerable to change.

She added that a good practice adopted by her university was mixing the different faculties in one building so they could meet…