European Universities as Community Leaders of the Education for Sustainable Development
▶Summary
Under EUGreenComp (2022), all university educational settings aim to develop awareness and civic competences that empower individuals to take action toward transforming society into a more sustain...
▶Objectives
Under EUGreenComp (2022), all university educational settings aim to develop awareness and civic competences that empower individuals to take action toward transforming society into a more sustainable one. We applied for the ESDEUS project to strengthen the university’s capacity as a leader in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The project focuses on ESD-relevant teaching, research, and collaboration with stakeholders. The consortium includes four universities from Poland, Sweden, Portugal, and Italy, with direct involvement of a Polish local stakeholder. The ESDEUS Consortium leader invited the Wroclaw Academic Center (Wrocławskie Centrum Akademickie) as an associated partner to patronize the “Introduction to ESD” course, implemented in the second year of the project (a letter of intent was signed on September 2, 2024).) The center also supported the final ESDEUS conference. During the project lifetime, we wanted to exchange knowledge and experiences between universities from different European regions and learn how local European communities (local actors) describe achievements, failures, barriers and the type of support in building local partnerships with universities in the ESD area.
▶Activities
To implement the project, we carried out a series of coordinated activities. The main activities included mapping and collecting higher education (HE) policies, strategies, and instruments related to ESD, designing and implementing the course “Introduction to ESD,” identifying stakeholders’ perspectives on ESD and local collective actions, and comparing ESD practices across different EU regions. The consortium carried out these activities by organizing Intersectoral Teaching and Learning events (Faro 2024, Milan 2025) and employing various methods such as problem-solving, peer learning, and the exchange of good practices. Research was designed and conducted within four European city communities (Wroclaw, Gothenburg, Faro, and Milan) to understand local stakeholders’ views on ongoing actions and cooperation in the ESD field. These activities allowed us to offer accessible, research-informed professional development opportunities to educators across Europe. Project results were disseminated through diverse channels, including scientific conferences, social media, videos, posters, and both popular and academic journals.
▶Impact
The project resulted in the organization and/ or creation of: 1. 8 ESDEUS team meetings; 2. 2 Intersectoral Teaching Learning Events (ITLEs in Faro and Milan); 3. Communication Strategy for ESDEUS project; 4. 1 online course for Polish audience: Introduction to Education for Sustainable Development; 5. Course curriculum developed in English and translated into four additional languages: Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish; 6. Introduction to Education for Sustainable Development Manual for a Digital Course; 7. The catalogue of HE ESD policies, strategies, and visions, including ESD instruments in teaching and learning (toolbox) 8. ESD comparative research report presented the stakeholders perspectives on SD and ESD including a booklet of collaborative actions of universities and local communities. 9. Joint articles (2), podcasts (4) and the final conference (1) were also results of the project. All project results are avaiable to access at https://www.dsw.edu.pl/esdeus.