The project founded on the most up-to-date reflection of universities about their own roles within modern society and the binds between their components, institutions and community. The connection between higher education area and society is seen as the third mission of universities. The strategy developed world-wide in relation to the 3rd mission for several decades, is service-learning. Thanks to it, universities fulfill their basic mission in a complex way and prepare a new generation of experts able to integrate academic qualities, social responsibility and civic engagement. Some HEI in European higher education area have been applying service-learning strategy for several years, however, it begins to be discovered or still remains unknown in most countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The same is true for the reflection about the social role of universities. The main aim of the project is to strengthen capacities of HEIs related to the fulfillment of their 3rd mission and to enhance civic engagement of students through implementation of the innovative service-learning strategy in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The partial aim of the project is to improve quality and relevance of study offer in the field of implementation of service-learning strategy in the higher education curricula through development of training curricula and materials adapted to the context of Central and Eastern European countries. The project is based upon experience and expertise of partners from 6 EU and 2 non-EU countries (associated partners) in the field of implementation of service-learning strategy, putting forward new international, innovative and so far unrealized outcomes. The project coordinator is Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. Project partners come from Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Germany and Austria. There is more than 480 participants presumably involved in the project. The number include teachers, students, target groups in the communities, conference participants. There will be at least 112 individuals lacking opportunities. The project activities consist of creating, testing and spreading innovative outcomes used during the realization of the project and upon its completion in order to develop and spread the service learning strategy in the field of higher education and outside it, fostering social roles of universities and civic engagement of students. Among main innovative outcomes of the project there are: 1) training for teachers in service learning and a guide for trainers, 2) manual for implementation of the service learning strategy in the higher education, 3) recommendations for implementation of service-learning in HEIs and best practice examples. The outcomes of this kind have not been produced so far but they are of key importance for service-learning development and implementation. The outputs will be published in English as well as in national languages. All outcomes will be available online on the project website. There are 6 transnational working sessions planned within the project, centered on the conception of intellectual outcomes and steering of the project. Steering activities include project management, monitoring, evaluation, dissemination, communication and follow-up. The key dissemination activity will be a 2-day international conference. All project outcomes are planned so as to be usable upon the project completion. Apart from partner institutions, their teachers and students, the project will have impact on local communities. It will show in broadening cooperation between actors and decision-makers of various kind – a civic society, citizens and universities. The project is a step towards creating of a network of institutions in the field of service-learning on the European level.
The project was based on how universities are currently reflecting on their roles in contemporary society and the relationships between their component parts and institutions and the community. One such relationship between universities and society is considered to be the third mission of universities. A strategy, which has been successfully developed around the world for several decades in the context of the third mission of universities, is the service-learning (SL) strategy. SL is a method of education, in which theoretical training is linked to the acquisition of practical experience. The added value of SL is that, in addition to one’s own development, it allows one to help others in their natural environment through the activity created. SL is described as one of the ways of experimental learning, which includes a balanced focus on the service provided to the community and the learning that takes place in this service. Thanks to this strategy, universities comprehensively fulfill their basic mission and prepare a new generation of experts who can integrate the acquired academic qualities with social responsibility and civic engagement. There are universities in the European educational area where the service-learning strategy has been in place for several years, but in most Central and Eastern European countries it is only at its early stages or is as yet unknown (similar to the considerations of the social role of universities). Consequently, the main goal of the project was to strengthen the capacity of higher education institutions to fulfill their third mission and to increase the civic engagement of students through the implementation of an innovative SL strategy in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. A partial goal of the project was to increase the quality and relevance of the offer of education in the area of implementation of the SL strategy into higher education through the development of training curricula and materials adapted to the context of Central and Eastern European countries. The project was based on the experience and expertise of partners from 6 EU countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Germany and Austria) and two countries outside the EU (associate partners) in the implementation of the service-learning strategy. The project coordinator was Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. The key activities of the project consisted in the creation, testing and dissemination of innovative outputs, which can be used even after its completion. The main innovative outputs of the project are: 1) Training for teachers on the SL strategy and a handbook for trainers, 2) Service-learning for higher education for teachers. A manual for teachers. 3) Recommendations for the promotion and strengthening of SL in the European context of universities and examples of good practice. Outputs are available in English, Slovak, Czech, Croatian, Romanian and German. All project outputs are available online on the project website www.slihe.eu. The outputs of the project are translated into several languages and are ready for implementation and development within other organisations (universities, secondary schools, third sector organisations). The outputs have contributed and will in the future contribute to the development of the social role of universities, the involvement and competences of young people, but also to the solution of the problems of different communities. Testing of project outputs consisted of the implementation of SL training for university teachers, which was attended by 70 people, and the implementation of service-learning projects accompanied by mentoring of 27 teachers. During the implementation of the project, 67 service-learning projects were implemented within the testing, in which a total of 810 students collaborated with 58 partners in the community whereby their projects had an impact on more than 2,300 people. The project also involved 218 people from within the student and target groups of service-learning projects with a lack of opportunities and therefore contributed to their inclusion in the project. Within the project, 6 transnational project meetings were held, these were used to create the intellectual outputs of the project and its management. The key dissemination activity was a two-day international conference held online, which was attended by 116 people from outside the project partners and more than 250 people during the accompanying activities. The project had an impact not only on the participating organisations, teachers and students but also on local communities. Cooperation between different actors in solving various problems has been strengthened, i. e. between civil society, citizens and universities. At the international level, we can identify an increase in international cooperation as an impact. The project also contributed to the building of a network of institutions in the field of service-learning at the European level.