We are delighted to announce that CA has been successful in an Erasmus Academic Network Project submitted in February, which aims to progress the implementation of the Rio+20 Treaty on Higher Educationand support CA activities and meetings. This opportunity is aligned to the CA commitments made in the period 2012-13 and will contribute to enhance member collaboration as well as profile the network at an international level.
The 3 year-project, entitled “University Educators for Sustainable Development (UE4SD)”, will bring together 55 higher education institutions, organisations and associations in 34 countries in Europe and beyond, to support university educators, regardless of their courses or specialisation, to re-orient their academic practice and research towards sustainability. The project involves almost all CA partners, providing an opportunity to members to work together on something tangible for the first time.
Project outcomes include a mapping of opportunities for university educators to develop ESD competences through professional development; a publication and online platform of resources to support changes to curriculum development and academic provision in universities; and the framing and trial of an European academy for ESD in HE (sustainability in HE professional development and networking platform) to provide guidance to universities on how to support the development of ESD competences of teaching staff.
CA has been awarded just under 600,000 Euros to lead this international project, through a competitive Erasmus scheme which had a success rate of only 36%. The project will be coordinated by the University of Gloucestershire (UK, host of CA Secretariat) and by a Steering Group composed by three CA members: Leuphana University (Germany), Charles University (Czech Republic) and Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain).
CA will regularly update its members on this project and will send a link to the project’s website when it becomes available.