About the GMA

IAU Global Meetings of Associations (GMA) are held every two years. They are organized exclusively for leaders of national, regional, and international associations or organizations of higher education institutions. These meetings offer a unique opportunity for leaders to meet as a relatively small group of peers to exchange ideas, share practices and network.

GMAs are held in conjunction with IAU International Conferences and both events share the same theme in order to discuss it from the perspectives of Associations and individual institutions. 

Host & Partner:

The GMA 2025 will be hosted by and organised in partnership with the University of Rwanda.

Topic:

The topic of the 2025 GMA is the role of associations in building trust in higher education. The full concept note can be accessed here.

The GMA will begin with a keynote presentation by Prof. Olusola B. Oyewole, Secretary General of the African Association of Universities (AAU) who will present thier work in building trust in higher education in the African regional context, among regional organizations, national government and society at large.

The keynote speech will be followed by a panel composed of representatives from associations from different regions of the world to discuss how building trust in higher education takes different forms in different contexts. The panel will showcase how such building of trust is an integral part of each association’s work and how such work contributes to fostering trust in the higher education sector.

After the panel presentations, participants will have the opportunity to debate and exchange views with the panellists and among themselves. At the end of the day, key outcomes of the discussions will be summarized to conclude the meeting and outline the way forward.