Higher education institutions today operate in a rapidly changing environment - teaching and learning in higher education are being influenced by a well-rehearsed set of global trends such as the changing demography of student populations; growing global interconnectedness and the proliferation of digital media; and an increasing market orientation in higher education. Among societal trends are challenges that most (if not all) European democracies today face; in particular, disenchantment with political representation and skepticism regarding policy decisions among young people who are at risk of being increasingly alienated from public political life. In addition, research suggests that students from an immigrant background are even more excluded from participation, as they appear to be at a disadvantage in terms of civic knowledge. It is within this environment that NEXUS examines the role HEIs have in promoting civic and social responsibility of students, with an emphasis on including migrant students in such initiatives. Higher mobility rates at HEIs have led to increasingly diverse classrooms, and the need to educate students with a more global perspective of what it means to be a citizen became more salient. The objective of NEXUS project is to empower students (with a special emphasis on migrant students) to enjoy their rights, uphold human rights values, and contribute positively to their society and the global community. It will do so by innovating civic education through 4 main pillars of intervention, resulting in increased participation of students in social life of their communities. NEXUS will explore the relationship between digitally enabled participatory tools and democracy, including such dimensions as citizen demand, state power, collective action and mobilization, and culture. Building on the idea that many opportunities for meaningful civic learning exist in online environments NEXUS uses technologies that are familiar and appealing to digital natives. We will analyse possibilities and challenges facing the digital transformation of politics in a specific context of a student body, and growing population of students with migration background. To enhance citizen engagement processes among students, educators should be aware of available and existing digital tools for democratic participation. They also need to know how to use them and what they aim to solve/address. Our approach favours interactive, networked activities often communicated through participatory media shared across online networks. NEXUS is a Strategic Partnership for higher education project that applies innovative approaches in promoting the nexus of migrants through active citizenship. It brings together academia (UNED - Spain, UNIMED - Italy, Malmo University), experts in digital democracy and citizens' participation (ECAS - Brussels), NGO with expertise in community engagement in higher education (IDE - Croatia), SME that deploys innovative and digital solutions to address challenges in higher education (KIC - Malta), and grass-root Institute that uses socially engaging multimedia for inclusion of diverse communities (APIS - Slovenia). The project is arranged around four pillars of activity: Pillar 1: Civic education micro-learning units Will lead to the production of a MOOC on Civic education for students with migration background Pillar 2: Community engagement (learning) and service-learning guidelines for Universities Will see the creation of a knowledge-sharing platform for civics-educators, focused on migration, and guidelines for HEIs on student’s civic engagement, focusing on the nexus family-community-civil society-state-HEI. A strategic framework on civic engagement of HEIs will emphasise how service-learning can address the needs of migrant students' inclusion Pillar 3: Re-wiring Civics to 4.0: connecting students to institutions in the digital age Will see the compilation of an inventory of digital tools for Open Democracy and digital citizenship education, a handbook for educators on civic education for a digital age and the organisation of a training seminar for educators on the same topic Pillar 4: #DIYCivics – campaigning for effective citizenship Finally, the fourth pillar we see the production of a podcast on civic education and documentaries featuring migrant student activists. The expected impact of NEXUS' approach is to enable and support HEIs in recognizing the value of different citizenship styles and emerging online environments, that may supplement or supplant civic knowledge of diverse student body.
The main objective of the project was to empower students to defend their rights, uphold human values, contribute to their society and the global community, and as such, become more active European citizens. NEXUS has aimed at innovating the civic educational process to increase the participation of students in their communities. This aim focuses on the role that HEIs have in promoting the civic and social responsibility of students, with an emphasis on including students with diverse background (including migrants) in such initiatives. Another secondary objective has been to explore how meaningful civic learning is undertaken in online environments using technologies that are familiar and appealing to younger students. NEXUS based its approach to civic education on audiences that favour more personally expressive or self-actualizing politics, often in peer-to-peer networks. Increasingly, young people spend their time in online environments, many of which offer civic engagement opportunities that are more in tune with the appeal of social networking and participatory media creation among peers. NEXUS has aimed to bring together the students’ preference for online activity with the availability of networked citizenship tools.
Education enables students to become critically aware and increases their understanding of the European identity. Students from minority backgrounds have a different understanding of what it takes to feel socially included, together with a weaker sense of European identity. Despite a lack of civic knowledge, they have confidence in their ability to engage in civic and citizenship issues. Recently, there has been a focus on the promotion of citizenship education. The NEXUS team believes that attention should be given to students to support their inclusion by enhancing their social and political responsibilities and rights. We believe that attention should be given to democracy as a process of deliberation and consensus-building, and to create a democratic society that values freedom of speech, equality, and making society more just and inclusive. Educational practices that relate to the components of democracy are scarce. It is therefore, necessary to change how civics is approached for students to ensure that members of disadvantaged groups enjoy equality of opportunity to engage in democratic action. As a result, the term “migrant students” was changed to “students with diverse backgrounds” to make the term itself more inclusive.