“UNI-ECO : practical & collaborative tools for sustainability innovation in the university” Erasmus Project

Project Title

“UNI-ECO : practical & collaborative tools for sustainability innovation in the university”

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: Environment and climate change; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

This project aims at responding to the need to build social and environmental sustainability into the core ethos of modern university. Sustainability is a crucial issue of the contemporary societies. Now more than ever it has become a vital need to transform our lifestyle in order to be in line with the many initiatives aiming at reaching the established United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. The term “Education for Sustainable Development” (ESD) describes education that empowers people, to design the future actively in a globalized world, autonomously and responsibly.
In the UNI-ECO project we wish to design the sustainable campus but it is students and HEI staff who will bring it to life by taking action.
The concerned target group is university population including students and staff covering the whole HEI hierarchy axis. The approach that UNI-ECO has selected is a bottom-up one in order to start this transformation from the basis of each campus focusing firstly on the campus needs and secondly on its perspectives by activating all possible actors.
The project aims not only at increasing the adoption of green practices and make sustainability more visible and actionable but also at developing an innovative methodology that will empower the HEI community to actively support the strategic plan of each institution.
In order to implement the common mission of working together towards the target of sustainable campuses, UNI-ECO will develop an innovative methodology based on 3 key dimensions:

1/ Raise awareness`
Sensitizing the HEI population remains one of UNI-ECO’s core objectives as we believe that by taking all necessary actions towards involving staff and students, sustainability will continue to develop in their hands after the completion of the project.
2/ Collaborate
The project aims at collaboration among the participating universities but also among the different layers within the institutions and exchange of good practices by bringing to the surface innovative ideas coming from the staff and students.
3/ Contribute
The heart of the project will be the implementation of Living Labs based on a systematic user co-creation approach integrating pedagogical tools and innovation process. As students/staff are the key users of facilities on campus, their knowledge, skills and habits are key to the successful attainment of sustainable campuses.
By understanding the problem in its heart and by completely involving the direct factors (the institution and its population) and transforming them into solutions we aim at changing the perception and the behavior of university population.
UNI-ECO will deliver the following outputs:

IO1 Summary report on the State of the Art on Sustainable Development in HEI
IO2 E-Learning Training Units for HEI staff
IO3 Online Living Lab for Sustainable HEIs
IO4 Road Map for a staff Empowerment on Sustainable Development Matters

UNI-ECO will develop an innovative methodology and toolkit empowering the HEI community to act on Sustainable Development related matters. This comprehensive bottom-up approach along with all the methodologies used during the project’s implementation will be part of the “Road Map for a staff Empowerment on Sustainable Development Matters” so as to be adopted in the future by any other HEI interested in fostering their sustainability.
The UNI-ECO project will entrust the valuable tools developed throughout its lifetime to the entire HEI community hoping that they will be the stepping stone for the Sustainable Campuses to follow in the future.

Project Website

http://uni-eco.umontpellier.fr/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 422773 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITE DE MONTPELLIER & Country: FR

Project Partners

• THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
• UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
• EOTVOS LORAND TUDOMANYEGYETEM
• UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA
• UNIMED – UNIONE DELLE UNIVERSITA DEL MEDITERRANEO
• CESIE