On 18 and 19 November 2025, the kick-off meeting for the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education project LEADHEGA took place in Batumi, Georgia. LEADHEGA is a two-year project that focuses on strengthening leadership, governance, and strategic management capacities in higher education institutions in Georgia and Azerbaijan by developing and piloting a comprehensive leadership development programme tailored to national needs. The project involves nine partners (3 from Azerbaijan, 3 from Georgia, 1 from Malta, 1 from Ireland, and 1 from Slovenia). EMUNI University is a partner in the project.
During the intensive two-day meeting, European partners presented successful practices for developing leadership programmes in higher education and reviewed methodologies used in previous Erasmus+ CBHE leadership projects. The consortium discussed the results of the initial needs analysis for Georgia and Azerbaijan, identifying the key leadership competencies required for university governance, strategic planning, financial management, quality assurance, and institutional development. A preliminary structure of the new Leadership Development Programme was developed, including core topics and subtopics.
The programme development process will continue over the next four months, with partners jointly preparing materials for the leadership programme. These materials will be further refined and validated during the study visit to Slovenia, which will take place at EMUNI University in March 2026.
