The aim of the project is to indicate how higher education can more effectively use the resources of European cultural heritage, to promote its educational and social value and to implement its own mission of a socially engaged and responsible institution. The project assumes that the presence and influence of universities on the closest social environment should be strengthened. Cultural heritage is diverse, but in every dimension (European, regional, local) it can perform functions that integrate communities and include underrepresented groups in the mainstream of social life. Target groups in the project are academic staff, leaders of social enterprises ( non-governmental organizations), educators of cultural institutions, employers, managers and decision-makers managing the cultural heritage of the specific region. Teachers, students and citizens of local communities are intended indirect beneficiary of the project. The consortium consists of five universities: University of Lower Silesian (Poland, leader), University of Gothenburg (Sweden), University of Malaga (Spain), The Open University of Cyprus (Cypr) and University of Leiden (the Netherlands). In each partner country, the project has associate partners with whom it develops and disseminates intellectual outputs. The partners represent various academic disciplines and traditions of using ECH (European Cultural Heritage) in the partnership with local social actors, different regions of Europe and diverse, rich experiences in building the European identity. The project aim to develop five intellectual outputs. The first one is a comparative research report "Mapping the cooperation of universities and local partners aimed at educational and social exploration of European Cultural Heritage." Partners will conduct research to find out how different communities perceive the role of the university in the local environment and what is the state of the art in mapping relationships and modes of cooperation between universities, social actors, institutions involved in the fostering and cultivating ECH ( museums, cultural institutes) and / or solving local social problems ( NGOs, local government) .The second intellectual output is a collection of good practices in heritage management aimed at educational and social goals, developed by Partners and Associate Partners .The next output 'Together for cultural heritage' is a set of recommendations for local governments, partners and social enterprises, whose aim is to strengthen and expand cooperation with universities by exploring the potential of ECH as well as to strengthen and disseminate the idea of social responsibility of the university in respect to the immediate environment. The fourth intellectual output is the academic course curriculum 'Educational potential of European Cultural Heritage' with an innovative, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral character, designed based on the standards of European Higher Education Area and meeting the quality demands of European Standard Guideline (ESG). The consortium will also create an open repository of educational resources in the form of web based available teaching materials for teaching and self-education, both traditional and multimedia, identified, collected and described by partners, with active cooperation of associated partners. In this way, the repository will not only strengthen the teaching competence of the project's beneficiaries, but it will contribute to strengthening the idea of open access to culture and the involvement of social groups whose participation in culture is impede by structural and socio-economic factors (output 5). The project includes also eleven multiplying events disseminating results in the form of local workshops, open lectures and international conferences as well as five short training activities, organized by each Partner. The impact of the project is ensured by its activities, which consist in cooperation with local associated partners and others that will participate in short training activities, as well as intellectual outputs (such as the academic course curriculum, available to the university, a tool for mapping university and local environment cooperation, open access teaching materials). Long-term impact of the project concern the change of social attitudes towards the European cultural heritage, which explored for educational purposes (formal / non-formal education) and in local policy will reveal its role in building more inclusive communities. The project will raise the awareness of the multifaceted nature and diversity of cultural heritage and will strengthen the university's presence and its links with the local community.
The project aimed to indicate how higher education could more effectively use the resources of European cultural heritage, promote its educational and social value, and implement its mission of a socially engaged and responsible institution. The project assumed that the presence and influence of universities on the closest social environment should be strengthened. Cultural heritage is diverse, but in every dimension (European, regional, local), it could integrate communities and include underrepresented groups in the mainstream of social life. Target groups in the project were academic staff, leaders of social enterprises ( non-governmental organizations), educators of cultural institutions, employers, managers, and decision-makers managing the cultural heritage of the specific region. Teachers, students, and citizens of local communities were intended indirect beneficiaries of the project. The consortium consisted of five universities: University of Lower Silesia (Poland, leader), University of Gothenburg (Sweden), University of Malaga (Spain), The Open University of Cyprus (Cyprus), and University of Leiden (Netherlands). The project has had Associate Partners in each partner country with whom it developed and disseminated intellectual outputs. The Partners represented various academic disciplines and traditions of using ECH (European Cultural Heritage) in the partnership with local social actors, different regions of Europe, and diverse, rich experiences in building the European identity. The project aimed to develop five intellectual outputs. The first was a comparative research report, "Cultural Heritage Between Sectors. Mapping the Cooperation of Universities and Social Partners". Partners researched to find out how different communities perceived the role of the university in the local environment and what was state of the art in mapping relationships and modes of cooperation between universities, social actors, institutions involved in the fostering and cultivating ECH (museums, cultural institutes) and/or solving local social problems (NGOs, local government). The second intellectual output was a collection of good practices in heritage management aimed at educational and social goals, developed by Partners and Associate Partners ""Inspirational Practices in Cultural Heritage Management. Fostering Social Responsibility"". The subsequent output, "Together for Cultural Heritage. Booklet of Recommendations for Social Partners" was a set of recommendations for local governments, partners, and social enterprises aimed to strengthen and expand cooperation with universities by exploring the potential of ECH as well as to strengthen and disseminate the idea of social responsibility of the university in respect to the immediate environment. The fourth intellectual output was the academic course curriculum"Collaborative Heritage Learning. Course syllabus" with an innovative, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral character, designed based on the European Higher Education Area standards and meeting the quality demands of European Standard Guideline (ESG). The project also included eleven multiplying events disseminating results in the form of local workshops, open lectures, an international conference, and five short training activities organized by each Partner. The impact of the project was ensured by its activities, which consisted in cooperation with associated local partners and others that participated in short training activities, as well as intellectual outputs (such as the academic course curriculum, available to the university, a tool for mapping university and local environment cooperation, open-access teaching materials). The project's long-term impact concerned the change of social attitudes towards the European cultural heritage, which was explored for educational purposes (formal / non-formal education) and local policy revealed its role in building more inclusive communities. The project raised awareness of cultural heritage's multifaceted nature and diversity and strengthened the university's presence and links with the local community