On October 15, 2019, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger gave the keynote address "The Future of the University," at an annual conference hosted by the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS). The conference centered around the latest ESPAS report "Global Trends to 2030: Challenges and Choices for Europe." Bollinger spoke with Klaus Welle, Secretary-General, European Parliament, and answered questions from the audience.
"The upshot is that we can expect the extraordinarily successful system of the American research university to continue thriving, to become more and more academically focused on very real and practical problems of the modern, global world, and to become more engaged with outside partners in helping to solve those problems."