Integrated education based on sustainable urban mobility projects Erasmus Project

Project Title

Integrated education based on sustainable urban mobility projects

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Pedagogy and didactics; Transport and mobility

Project Summary

An urban environment is a sophisticated system with many stakeholders i.e. citizens, local authorities, business sector, non-profit organisations. Their expectations are changing towards better utilisation of existing resources, less environmental pressure and increased quality of life. All these factors are challenging with regards to sustainable urban mobility planning to practicioners, but also to students and teachers responsible for providing them with necessary skills at univeristies. Interdisciplinary coordination of teaching courses is a problem especially when complex urban mobility problems are concerned. It is difficult to follow changes in all aspects of urban mobility management, analyse available case studies and transfer them into comprehensive teaching approach.
The main objective of the project is to increase teaching capability on the field of sustainable urban mobility management. This effort is focused on extension of student’s practical skills by implementation of practical project-based teaching method. This method is aimed to provide a compliance with a real-world challenges by inclusion of Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUMP) implementation requirements, which are regarded by European Commission as a benchmark for urban mobility planning which is widely accepted by many European cities. Another objective is to foster knowledge and skills acquisition by students. To meet this requirement a common internet teaching platform will be established. Its main application will be to provide an access to all teaching materials, guidelines and case studies developed as intellectual outputs during the projects. But this platform is reach beyond this function, providing a place to establish international project teams by students, ask questions and search for solutions with a help of users from other universities.
The project’s consortium is composed of three universities: Gdansk University of Technology as a Lead Partner(Poland), University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně (Usti nad Labem, Czechia) and Technische Universitaet Dresden (Germany). Each univeristy is well experienced in sustainable urban mobility teaching and research. This facilitated identification of areas for improvement in mobility teaching which led to setting up a consortium.
The project is following a step by step approach leading to development and testing of project-based teaching approach. It includes six intellectual Outputs: 1) Analysis of the sustainable urban mobility in the context of effective teaching, 2) Development of a methodology for evaluation of the project’s activities, 3) Recommendations for development of sustainable urban mobility teaching, 4) Development of material for a purpose of the project-based teaching approach, 5) Setting-up of a common teaching internet platform, 6) Testing and evaluation of the project-teaching method. Two multiplier events are planned to disseminate the results and improve inclusion of students and teachers. Gdansk University of Technology is responsible for overall management of the project, elaboration of evaluation and dissemination plan as well as coordination of international meetings.
The S@MPler project will have considerable impact at different levels and in different contexts and environments. The action will have specific impacts (a) at the local and regional level, which could employ better prepared urban transport experts, and thus indirectly contributing to enhanced transport and mobility systems for citizens and higher quality of life of citizens; (b) at the research level, thus contributing to increased knowledge about integrated urban transport planning, the SUMPs and various effects of different combinations and packages of sustainable transport measures; (c) at the national level by cooperation with national bodies (respective authorities, see Letters of Support) in education of future experts and supporting national-wide policies regarding sustainable urban mobility; and (d) at the European level by strengthening cooperation of universities, students and transport experts of cities and regions throughout the European Union.
After successful finalisation of the project, all developed materials will be accessible as an open educational source and maintained by the GUT. It is expected that the materials will be further developed by their users – teachers and students -, above all new case projects and students work (like academic papers, theses etc.) will be added to the source. The maintainer – GUT – will check if the up-loaded materials fulfil the expected requirements like the content, author, and quality. The later added materials will be marked and located separately to distinguish them from those prepared under the S@MPler project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 378670 Eur

Project Coordinator

POLITECHNIKA GDANSKA & Country: PL

Project Partners

• UNIVERZITA JANA EVANGELISTY PURKYNE V USTI NAD LABEM
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN