The context of this project is two-folded and aligned to the European Commission’s priorities. On the one hand, it addresses the need for the development of the students' key competences for socio-educational and personal development and on the other hand, the need for an increased relevance of the educational offer of HEIs in line with structured dialogue between academia and business. The ERUM project aims to develop a relevant transversal educational offer on the topic of “quality of information between mis and disinformation today” for higher education students who are partaking in the shaping of the present and future of the information and knowledge society. It also brings about a shift in the way higher education institutions and media are collaborating vis-a-vis evidence-based and research communication. The core objectives of the project lie in the quality of information today, between mis- and disinformation or so-called “fake news”: To improve the educational offer on the topic of quality of information in higher education and equip students with transversal skills that are necessary for the exercise of democratic citizenship To foster structured collaboration between higher education and media and contribute to the policy discussion about the role of universities and media in the knowledge and information society Improve the quality of information with regards to research-based communication These objectives are translated into four main outcomes namely, media representation gaps reports and evaluation methodology to debunk and raise awareness about the impact of mis/disinformation, guidelines for evidence-based communication to reduce risk of misleading scientific information, learning material to develop media literacy skills and deepen knowledge about “fake news” as well as policy recommendations to foster structured academia-media cooperation. The training activities (intensive study programmes) will further the impact of the abovementioned outputs towards higher education students, academics and media experts and pilots in the HEI partners as well as OERs of the learning material will enable proper implementation. The specific target groups to be reached by the project activities are a) higher education students, in particular postgraduates, as well as lifelong learners; b) higher education institutions targeting both teachers and researchers; c) media organisations, including general and scientific journalists; d) policy-makers and civil society organisations. It is to be noted that the project ERUM focuses on, but is not limited to, higher education students who are postgraduates since they have already accomplished research work and are familiar with the concept of evidence-based communication, therefore, they would be able to apply the methodologies, and relevant recommendations as well as gain additional knowledge from the courses. The project aims to have a systemic impact across EU higher education institutions and the media industry with about 2000 people reached both directly through the project outcomes and piloting and indirectly. At short and mid-term, higher education students from different study fields will benefit from advanced learning tools and material to develop and reinforce their skills and resilience related to the mis/disinformation topic. At long-term, the project will enable the establishment of structured collaboration between media and academia on a structural systemic level. The project will be implemented by the University of Vienna (Austria), University of Alcalá (Spain), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), University of Versailles (France), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus) and the European University Foundation (Luxembourg).
The project aimed at - developing an educational offer for HE students on the topic of quality of information to equip students with transversal skills (such as critical thinking or creative problem solving) necessary to exercise democratic citizenship; - fostering structured collaboration between HEI and the media to ensure that research-based communication is efficient and accurate and contributing to the policy discussion about the role of universities and the media in the knowledge and information society; - improving the quality of information with regards to research-based communication by offering support in a capacity building perspective to students and in-service journalists to update the scientific and general dissemination practices. The objectives of the project have all been connected to the overall topic that is “quality of information, between mis- and disinformation today”. The project refers to the concepts of misinformation (whereby the source of information made an honest mistake) and disinformation (intentional spread of false information) rather than just addressing “fake news”, as ERUM intended to tackle both issues by proposing new methodologies and learning material to students and lifelong learners.
The project partners identified the quality of information - between mis- and disinformation - as a fundamental challenge to society. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic this challenge became even more visible. Consequently, by implementing the ERUM project, core needs of different target groups were addressed: - HE students: the need to understand how media content affects culture and society as well as the need to improve their resilience to misleading media content; - HEIs/academic staff: the need to increase awareness of the benefits, methods and learning material that can facilitate and support students’ learning processes and acquisition of transversal skills. Additionally, the need to strengthen science communication techniques and thus the transfer of scientific knowledge to a broader society to fulfill their “Third Mission” in addressing societal challenges and contributing to the socialisation of responsible, active and critical citizens; - Journalists/media industry: the need to strengthen the evidence and research-based communication practices and collaboration with HEIs; - Civil society: the need to improve the overall accuracy of media coverage and develop active and critical citizenship.