On Monday 26 May, the European Union’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a report intended to support a new educational role for universities in territorial innovation policies.
The authors of ‘Rethinking the Role of Universities in Place-Based Innovation Policies for Sustainability Transitions’, Michaela Trippl, Sylvia Schwaag Serger and Katalin Erdős, note that, despite the exponential rise in sustainability-related issues, training is still underdeveloped in many institutions.
A survey conducted in fifteen European countries shows that lifelong learning is often “limited and not integrated into the universities’ core strategic frameworks”. According to the report, this reflects a number of institutional limitations, such as structures deemed too rigid and incentives that remain insufficient.
The report therefore calls for the development of cross-disciplinary teaching that is rooted in regions and capable of supporting the ecological, digital and social transitions.
To achieve this, it recommends integrating modules on sustainability, social justice and artificial intelligence into curricula, and supporting experiential and collaborative learning formats.
Finally, the authors argue that structural change is also necessary, because universities can no longer depend on isolated projects or individual commitments.
They must make sustainability transition a strategic organisational priority, at all levels, from governance to education, in order to play an active and sustainable role in regional development.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/h3u (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)