LAUNCHING INNOVATION-BASED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE TRAINING FRAMEWORK IN EUROPE Erasmus Project

Project Title

LAUNCHING INNOVATION-BASED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE TRAINING FRAMEWORK IN EUROPE

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: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Environment and climate change; Recognition, transparency, certification

Project Summary

Landscape architecture (LA) is about creating great cities, streets, parks and public spaces – spaces that inspire healthy living and wellbeing while protecting natural environments and pleasing people. LA is about creating safe, sustainable and resilient landscapes that evolve but endure over time. LA is perfectly positioned to respond to urgent issues of our time, eg. mitigating climate change and contributing to the sustainability of both individual sites and cities as a whole.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a major role in educating landscape architects (LAs) who will take decisions about our future environment. Although European regulation (eg. concerning environment, competition in internal EU market, or professional qualifications) has impact on the professional work of LAs across Europe, there are still no standards regarding the content of the European HE of LAs, inducing barriers for lifelong learning, recognition, and mobility.

Common training framework (CTF) is knowledge, skills and competences necessary for the pursuit of a specific profession, defining what a person is able to know, to understand and to do. By harmonizing the education and training requirements of LA professionals through the CTF, the EU will ensure free movement of professionals across the EU. The Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the recognition of professional qualifications and Regulation (PQD) emphasizes, that Professional qualifications obtained under CTFs should automatically be recognised by the Member States.

Such actions are highly supported by the EU. The renewed EU agenda for HE, adopted by the Commission in May 2017, identifies enhanced mobility and cooperation in HE among its key goals. The Paris Communiqué (2018), highlighting priority activities in this area for the coming years, calls for securing a sustainable future through HE. These ambitions are in line with the goal of the EU to create European Education Area by 2025, to promote mobility and academic recognition of qualifications for all EU citizens, leading to free movement of workers – one of the four fundamental freedoms of the Union.

Herewith, InnoLAND aims to facilitate transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications of landscape architecture professionals in the EU by developing the Common Training Framework for the Profession along with relevant tools to support its implementation. The specific objectives include: i) implementing PQD requirements to foster automatic recognition of LA profession in Europe; ii) establishing pan-European quality standards for LA study programmes and homogenizing LA education in Europe; and iii) developing an exemplar master study programme framework in line with the European CTF.

To harmonise the HE of the LA professionals, InnoLAND targets HEIs and LA schools in the EU. Additionally, practicing LAs, European and national LA associations and regulatory bodies will be involved to achieve the aims and objectives of the project.

The key strength of InnoLAND project is the high pan-European ambition and the strong consortium endowed with means to achieve it. The consortium consists of 5 HEIs, covering geographical Europe from the North to the South – Finland, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Portugal – contributing with knowledge and experience on varying landscapes, study programmes, regulation of the profession, and European mobility experience. Additionally, two landscape architects’ associations join the project to ensure access to the most prominent landscape architecture knowledge and education (LE:NOTRE, the Netherlands), the target group of LA professionals, and access to the responsible bodies in the European Commission (IFLA Europe, Belgium).

The project envisages expert workshops, analysis and stakeholder involvement to develop CTF for the profession of LAs in Europe. To secure the implementation of CTF, the consortium will provide national regulatory bodies with recommendations, and HEIs will be offered an efficient up-to date self-assessment tool and a module-based advanced master study programme.

CTF will finally fulfil the requirement imposed by Art. 49a of the PQD and serve as the most important instrument for quality and competitiveness of HE with regard to the profession of LAs in the EU. InnoLAND will also result in a developed basis for recognition of LA study programmes by IFLA Europe and ECLAS, leading to increased advanced learning and study opportunities for LAs. Fulfilment of an important precondition for automatic recognition of LA professional qualification based on Art. 49a of the PQD will contribute to increased mobility of high-level LA professionals across the EU; it will improve the quality and global competitiveness of the European HE. It will also affect reaching Sustainable Development Goals and SDG Agenda 2030 as adopted by the UN (2015), the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2016) and the European Green Deal (2019).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 249439 Eur

Project Coordinator

VILNIAUS GEDIMINO TECHNIKOS UNIVERSITETAS & Country: LT

Project Partners

• IFLA Europe
• STICHTING LE:NOTRE INSTITUTE
• AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
• UNIVERSIDADE DE EVORA
• Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences