Keynote speakers

Csilla Stéger

Director – CEE Education and Skills Team Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers Hungary

Keynote Date: 10/06/2026

Location: Congress Hall

Time: 11:15-13:00

Csilla brings over 20 years of expertise in the education field and holds a PhD in educational science.

She is the leader of PwC CEE Education and Skills Consulting Team. As such, she has substantial experience leading projects focused on future-ready teaching and learning approaches, curriculum redesign, defining learning outcomes, AI in education and university strategies.

Her background encompasses roles in central government education system management as well as higher education institutional leadership. She also has experience of a decade in international organisations such as the European Commission working group on Teachers and schools and OECD TALIS Governing Board.

Keynote title: Understanding the student experience - Lessons learnt leading 3 projects with 3 universities

During the last years the University of Szeged, the University of Miskolc and the University of Sopron collaborated in 3 projects that focused on different aspects of the student experience. In the Keynote you will hear about the 3 projects, namely (1) machine learning predictions on student success, (2) labour market demand-based curricula analysis and (3) teaching and learning methodology pilots using cooperative projects combined with molecular adaptive online learning. The three projects contributed to the understanding of the very similar key dimensions of student success between the 3 vastly different universities, also the typical challenges of university curricula and gave examples of success in teaching and learning transformation.

Péter Kovács

Associate Professor at the University of Szeged (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration) and Head of the Institute of Financial and Economic Analysis, University of Szeged

Keynote Date: 11/06/2026

Location: Congress Hall

Time: 13:00-14:00

Péter Kovács is a Hungarian statistician and Associate Professor at the University of Szeged (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration). He heads the Institute of Financial and Economic Analysis and chairs the Department of Statistics and Demography. He served as Vice Dean (2014–2017) and Dean (2017–2024). He earned a degree in Mathematics and holds a PhD and habilitation in Economics.

Teaching statistics since 2001, he delivers courses in statistics and data analysis (including Excel, SPSS and Power BI) at BA, MA and PhD level in English and Hungarian. He chairs the Statistics Scientific Subcommittee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He leads a financial literacy research group and has received multiple awards for teaching and innovation, including the Financial Culture Ambassador award.

His research focuses on statistical and financial literacy, statistics education development, multivariate statistical modelling, and the use of digital tools in higher education, and he has contributed to international initiatives such as the ProCivicStat project.

Keynote title: Financial Literacy at the Threshold: Digital Challenges and Patterns Brought from Home at the Start of University Life

The presentation introduces the research findings of the Econventio Association and the University of Szeged (SZTE), based on 15 years of data and 130,000 responses from secondary school students. It highlights the financial literacy of young people entering higher education and the development challenges facing higher education. The data suggest that prospective students’ financial knowledge is inadequate. While education and digitalization increasingly shape information-seeking and decision-making, young people’s financial literacy is still strongly influenced by patterns brought from home. Furthermore, when the secondary school financial literacy test is administered to adults, the results show that the same areas of knowledge—such as interest calculation, comparing financial offers, and interpreting basic financial concepts—remain just as challenging for adults as for secondary school students.

Michelle Morgan

Dean of Students, University of East London; Student Experience Transitions Specialist; National and Principal Fellow, Higher Education Academy; Elected Council Member, UK Council for Graduate Education

Keynote Date: 11/06/2026

Location: Congress Hall

Time: 11:45-13:15

Michelle Morgan is a national and internationally recognised Student Experience Transitions Specialist across all levels of study and is extensively published in the area. She is Dean of Students at the University of East London. Michelle is a National and Principal Fellow of the HEA, Fellow of the AUA and SRHE, recipient of the European First Year Experience Leadership Award, an elected council member of UKCGE and Student Minds Mental Health Charter Assessor. During her varied career, Michelle has been a faculty manager, lecturer, researcher and academic manager. She describes herself as a ‘Third Space Integrated Student Experience Practitioner’ who develops initiatives based on pragmatic and practical research. Michelle has over 50 publications and has presented over 100 national and international conference papers (including 60 keynotes and 40 invited papers). She has developed a free portal for staff which provides a range of information and links for anyone interested in improving the student experience in higher education www.improvingthestudentexperience.com

She co-wrote and co-presented a 5 part Radio series for BBC China in 2011 on the student learning experience. Michelle was creator and Project Lead of an innovative, £2.7 million, 11 university collaborative Postgraduate Experience Project funded by HEFCE looking at the study expectations and attitudes of postgraduate taught (PGT) students. The project report received praise from across the sector including UKCGE, OFFA, the HEA and the Engineering Professor’s Council and helped introduce the PG Loan Scheme. Michelle is currently leading the first national pilot of a pre-arrival academic questionnaire funded by the Office for Students with AdvanceHE and JISC.

Keynote title: The importance of adopting a whole institutional integrated approach to improve the experience, progression, retention and success of our students and staff

Higher education is facing unprecedented challenges which are being exacerbated by sector funding issues including reduced government funding, frozen tuition fees, rising costs, and a reliance on international student fees. We are seeing institutional deficits, course closures, and staff redundancies. More is expected to be done with less. More than ever, it is critical not only for the sector to come together as one but for different departments and services within an institution to actively work together if we are to improve the experience, progression, retention and success of our students and staff.

This keynote will:

- Highlight the current challenges and pressures facing higher education in the UK and Europe.

- Explain why understanding the prior learning experiences of our student body on entry and their expectations is so critical in supporting and enabling their progression and success,

- And the role that a whole institutional integrated approach throughout the student journey plays in supporting this.