A new educational model for acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning

Field: Higher education

Unipi Team Leader: Gianluca Brunori, Department of Agricultural, Food and Agro-Environmental Sciences

The five universities of this project will be pioneers in designing a new educational model based on how to effectively acquire sustainability competences, through SL. The graduates will be better prepared to face the challenges of our global world. The project will also involve students from different disciplines, they will have an international experience with all the values linked to it. The students will increase their awareness about sustainability and SL, the global challenges of humanity and the importance of integrating all this in their professional future. The importance of sustainable food innovation is reflected in the 17 SDGs; in particular, in Goal 2 (“end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture and farming”) and Goal 12 (“responsible production and consumption”). Education is a key change agent in catalyzing the achievement of the SDGs. In particular, SDG 4.7 requires all learners to acquire critical skills, essential knowledge and an ontological mindset for becoming deeply committed to building a sustainable future. The objectives of this project are the following ones:
O1) Defining a food sustainability profile (FSP) through a community building methodology by developing a model of intervention common to all universities involved, focused on sustainability and pedagogical practices, included service learning (SL).
O2) Defining a methodological handbook (MH) in Food sustainability through SL as a common framework of activities for acquisition of sustainability competences for SL and roadmaps of implementation.
O3) Defining assessment tools of FSP and MH by co-creation practices in SL.
O4) Defining a new educational model suitable for the acquisition of sustainability competences through green pedagogies and SL.
Therefore, the final results would be this new educational model that we propose as the germ of change in the current educational model. Globally, the expected impact on the participants, participating organisations, target groups and other relevant stakeholders involved in this project is mainly to become aware of the importance of being change-makers in designing a new educational system, that deals with the impact of human activity in a holistic way. Embedding sustainability in the students´curricula, as a key competence through SL will provoke an inner awakening to this need. If we want to produce and consume new food products, let´s do it in a sustainable way and with the aim of contributing to the eradication of hunger from the world. From a more specific point of view, there are different levels of impact: All the staff involved in the project will increase their awareness about sustainability and Climate Change issues. They will integrate the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs in their expertise and they will focus their teaching, training or professional activity from a more holistic position, with awareness of technical development. On the other hand, they will have the opportunity to develop international collaboration, taking part in a multidisciplinary and multicultural team; this will improve their skills and competencies in different areas such as conflict resolution, teamwork, European identity, common concerns, critical thinking and curricula design. The project will motivate the staff to get involved in international projects, exchanges, and collaborations in the future. They will also be closer to stakeholders’ vision, needs, capacity of support, so they will bring the university closer to society thanks to the SL methodology. Moreover, SL helps to build and to apply values that enable students to create a reflective opinion on how the world is and should be. It increases the awareness of societal problems and the analytical skills to evaluate them regarding the given circumstances.

Coordinator: UNIVERSIDAD PUBLICA DE NAVARRA (Spain)

Other participants:

UNIVERSITA DI PISA
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY DUBLIN (Ireland)
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'AGRICULTURE RHONE ALPES I.S.A.R.A (France)
ASSOCIACIO IGCAT (Spain)
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET GRAZ (Austria)

Start date: 01-02-2022

End date: 31-01-2024

EU Grant: 285.882,00 €

Project website: https://www.nemosproject.com/