The European Convention for Engineering Deans, Directors and Department Heads (ECED) – University Leadership Dialogue (ULD) is the annual networking event jointly organised by the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER) and the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), which brings together higher engineering education leaders in order to:

• discuss issues related to higher engineering education, research, innovation and governance;
• network and share experiences with other leaders in a professional peer environment;
• incentivise professionalism in higher engineering education, research, innovation and governance in the light of the changing strategic and operational roles of engineering deans, directors and department heads.

ECED-ULD is composed of several interlinked sessions tied together by a general theme relevant to leaders who are responsible for the strategy and operations of engineering schools, departments and faculties. A trademark of ECED-ULD is to experiment with sessions and meeting formats in order to support intense networking and interactive discussions. The major conclusions and findings are possibly summarised in a `declaration` serving as an agenda for follow-up actions.

Building upon the commitment of both CESAER and SEFI renewed in 2016, ECED-ULD will further evolve towards the European professionalization platform for leaders in higher engineering education institutions. ECED-ULD thus also covers the following leadership aspects:

• providing leadership, conducting and implementing strategic planning;
• reporting to senior management and spreading the institution’s strategic vision;
• overseeing the running of departments within their faculty and liaising with heads of department and administration teams to ensure smooth running of the study programmes;
• managing the recruitment and hiring of faculty;
• identifying and qualifying future evolutions and possible disruptive changes in the university system;
• steering the research strategy by overseeing the research within their faculty, identifying points of contacts, supporting cooperation and leveraging synergies;
• managing and monitoring budgets;
• cooperating with business, industry and public services;
• developing and maintaining external relationships (1) enhancing student placement opportunities; (2) providing meaningful community outreach opportunities for students and faculty; (3) cultivating additional fundraising opportunities; (4) extending the faculty’s impact nationally and (5) working with alumni.