European University For Transition Erasmus Project

Project Title

European University For Transition

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND
Ecological issues (climate change, loss in biodiversity, scarcity of resources, etc.) and their social consequences (growing inequalities, poverty, conflicts, forced migrations, etc.) call us to promote a paradigm shift, to redesign our production and consumption patterns, our lifestyles, and thus adjust the curricula in higher education, and to explore how economic and legal tools can be applied to these challenges. That is the ecological transition in the education field. The European University for Transition (EU4TRANSITION) Erasmus + project aims at developing and implementing innovative learning and research practices (e.g. new curricula, teaching methods, institutional network). It addresses key topics relevant for our contemporary ecological transition at local and European level such as the governance transition, the main controversy of the ecological transition, the economic transition, ethics and spirituality, construction, energy, local economy, finance, community, local transition, agricultural transition, climatology and empowerment by the sciences of engineering.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT:
In doing so, EU4TRANSITION will focus on the development of a “European University in Transition” (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008) who accompany the ecological, but also economic, social and legal transitions (4 main domains). Our purpose is to develop innovative, multidisciplinary, pragmatic and holistic approaches for teaching and learning in the field of « Transitions » and facilitate the exchanges, flows and co-creation of knowledge and, more specifically, skills.

NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS:
EU4TRANSITION brings together seven partners from five countries (Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey). The key persons of the organization involved in the project have highly international recognized experiences in teaching and conducting research in the field of the Transition (agriculture, climatology, biology, business administration, ethics, economics, governance, management, etc).

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
1) Encourage a rapprochement between classical academic institutions and transition schools in order
2) Pool the practices of similar transition schools in Europe, already existing, in order to enrich each other’s knowledge, to set up an adequate curriculum and to develop our collective and individual practices through common enrichment and;
3) Stimulate the development of this type of school across the European continent.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE RESULTS EXPECTED:
– Firstly, an alliance of teachers and researchers sharing feasible innovative practices on teaching ecological transition (including economic, social, legal) and about evolution of Higher and Open Education
– Secondly, an initiative in Higher and Open education, to reinforce partners’ innovative methods in teaching, in an holistic and systemic way
– Thirdly, a partnership between institutions who intend to share an experimental project with common curricula, resulting in a course material and in a MOOC .

POTENTIAL LONGER TERM BENEFITS:
In working together they will challenge structures, organization and methods that are taken for granted, in order to experience and test common « modules » of teaching/researching on ecological transition and develop new common forms of training/researching and certification, and even create the foundations for a new common Open and Virtual European University for Transition.

DELIVERABLES:
D1: Teaching guide on innovative pedagogy for transition studies
D2: 3 part 50h course material on systemic elements on Ecological and social transition
D3: A MOOC on Transformative pedagogy for an ecological and social transition
D4: 3 Spring school experiments in transition schools
D5: Local seminaries with each partner organization and its ecosystem
D6: an international seminary to present and discuss our major findings

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 315321 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASSOCIATION GROUPE ESSEC & Country: FR

Project Partners

• STICHTING UNIVERSITEIT VOOR HUMANISTIEK
• UNIVERSIDAD PONTIFICIA COMILLAS
• Arterra Bizimodu
• YASAR UNIVERSITESI
• MTÜ Eesti Ökokogukondade Ühendus
• Campus de la Transition