Making real sense of an overused yet critically important concept, excellence, stands at the heart of this year’s ACA Annual Conference programme. The excellence imperative. World-class aspirations and real-world needs will bring together a remarkable line-up of policy experts, university leaders, academics, and institutional managers all working to make sense of the factors that truly matter when considering what it means for higher education systems, institutions, programmes, and processes to perform at peak levels.

The conversation will be organised around three main streams – a deep and critical examination of the concept of excellence, a wider consideration of how and what excellence means for universities beyond the realm of research activities, and a compelling exploration of excellence in the complex and multi-faceted arena of internationalisation. Featured speakers will include Ellen Hazelkorn, author of Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education: The Battle for World-Class Excellence (2011) and currently Dublin Institute of Technology’s Vice President Research and Enterprise, and Dean of the Graduate Research School; Jamil Salmi, Tertiary Education Coordinator at the World Bank; and Eva Egron-Polak, Secretary General of the International Association of Universities; among other luminaries.

This not-to-be missed event will run 22-24 May 2011 and is filling up fast. Early registration is encouraged to ensure a ‘place at the table’ for promises to be a fascinating and illuminating meeting of the minds on this important topic.