Shared goals and common challenges

‍CREATE Project Manager Kostas Mitropoulos, spoke on Wednesday 17 June at the ECIU University Forum in Aveiro, Portugal. Together with representatives from three other satellite projects, he discussed their shared objectives, areas of overlap, and common challenges.

Several similarities between the projects, CREATE (of which the University of Twente is a project partner) CEETNOVA, SHIFT and JUMP, were immediately apparent. All operate under the ECIU University umbrella, are driven by bottom-up initiatives, and collaborate closely with universities across the partnership. This provided a natural starting point for exploring their common ground.

The projects at a glance

CEETNOVA focuses on knowledge valorisation, aiming to maximise the societal and practical impact of academic research. JUMP seeks to design and implement flexible learning pathways through initiatives such as microcredentials, challenge-based learning and internships. CREATE is developing a flexible, scalable and adaptable Creathon model, with the resulting Creathon Toolkit to be made available to higher education institutions across Europe. SHIFT places students at the centre of designing and transforming higher education.

A shared starting point

The similarities extend well beyond their organisational structure. Challenge-based learning – one of the core principles of ECIU University – emerged as a common thread throughout the discussion. Engaging external stakeholders and building long-term collaborative partnerships are also central to all four projects.

‘Organising Creathons can provide an excellent starting point for implementing challenge-based learning within the other projects,’ said Mitropoulos. ‘It is an effective way of actively involving both students and academic staff in educational innovation.’

Laura Paternoster, who moderated the panel discussion, highlighted that the involvement of a wide range of external organisations and institutions brings together diverse perspectives. She also identified multidisciplinary collaboration and the integration of different viewpoints as key strengths of the projects.

Looking ahead, the panellists agreed that one of the main challenges will be communicating project outcomes in a clear and consistent way. Reaching end users who are less familiar with ECIU terminology was also identified as an important area for improvement.

The panel discussion formed part of the two-day ECIU University Forum. The event brings together students, academics, researchers, professional staff and external stakeholders to exchange best practices and share success stories in educational innovation.