More information
Description
The nature of the project is the cooperation between the University of Pardubice, the Faculty of Chemical Technology (applicant), the partner BI Norwegian Business School (Norway) and University of Iceland, School of Social Sciences (Iceland). Applicant’s lecturers plan to get acquainted with the process and methods of teaching in partner institutions by peer learning activities, as well as share knowledge and best practices in the field of environmental and social responsibility, innovation management and sustainability issues at the highest world level. The expected objectives of the project are:
• innovated courses/subjects related with Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability,
• innovation, Social and Environmental Responsibility, promoted education of students/graduates in citizenship, environmental and social responsibility issues,
• promoted collaboration and sharing of pedagogical methodology, knowledge and skills among partners institutions.
On the basis of peer learning findings the lecturers will adapt the curricula of the courses taught at the University of Pardubice, supplemented with teaching materials on case studies and applicable teaching methods. To promote student education in citizenship, environmental and social responsibility issues and to ensure wider dissemination of project knowledge the last dissemination activity of the project will be realized.
A key benefit is the transfer of knowledge among partner countries on a globally relevant theme of environmental responsibility and society that will contribute to more versatile education for graduates. Students will gain not only economic and managerial education, but also their education in environmental and social issues will be significantly promoted, which should promote their sense of citizenship and responsibility in the realization of chemical productions and responsibility towards corporate stakeholders and society in particular
Summary of project results
The nature of the project was to get acquainted with the process and methods of teaching in partner institutions in Norway and Iceland by peer learning activities and upgrade selected courses. Peer learning activities focused on knowledge and best practices in the field of environmental and social responsibility, innovation management and sustainability issues. The intention was to learn from foreign partners how this knowledge can be best enforced in teaching and to innovate relevant courses in terms of content and form. The project implemented two peer learning activities linked to two courses taught by a Norwegian partner. For each peer learning activity, an intellectual output was submitted summarizing the content, form, conditions and recommendations for teaching specifically for University of Pardubice. Although the implementation of the project was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all 8 courses were innovated and method of active citizenship was introduced into teaching. A significant benefit was the knowledge of the approach to social responsibility on the part of the Norwegian partner, who supported the teaching of social responsibility by own CSR certification at school level and was able to reflect the principles of CSR in everyday life of this institution. In this respect, the project has generated considerable contribution and confirmed to the project participants that education for corporate social responsibility, active citizenship and sustainability is feasible, important and necessary in the context of maintaining the standard of living on the planet.
Summary of bilateral results
The cooperation with the Norwegian partner was very successful. All planned activities were implemented and outputs were created. Follow-up cooperation was agreed. The choice of partner completely corresponded to the intention of the project, BI Norwegian Business School, is an example of good practice in promoting CSR and active citizenship and have a clearly formulated Sustainability strategy until 2025. These circumstances have been conducive to recognizing that teaching about responsibility, sustainability and proactive citizenship must begin with the trainer or institution providing the education. During the trip to BI Norwegian Business School, a number of meetings took place with representatives of the institution''s management, CSR leaders and representatives of the student union, which plays an important role in the students'' dialogue with the institution''s management. All intended topics were discussed, especially the possibilities of future collaboration and sharing of pedagogical methodology, knowledge and skills, discussing differences between countries. A Letter of Intent was written to submit an application for another bilateral cooperation project. This project was acquired in 2020 and launched in September 2020, so the cooperation continues and will continue to develop. There was planned to realize peer learning activity with Icelandic partner, but it cannot take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason was the agreement that peer learning activity will be of a monitoring nature, the intention was to get acquainted with the learning process. Peer-learning activity conceived in this way would not be meaningful when implemented via online communication. The Icelandic partner thus participated in the project in the role of consultations, where the intended changes in the innovated courses were sent to evaluate and the suitability of changes in individual subjects was discussed with regard to the comparison with the situation in Iceland.