This project aims at responding to the need to build social and environmental sustainability into the core ethos of modern university. Sustainability is a crucial issue of the contemporary societies. Now more than ever it has become a vital need to transform our lifestyle in order to be in line with the many initiatives aiming at reaching the established United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. The term "Education for Sustainable Development" (ESD) describes education that empowers people, to design the future actively in a globalized world, autonomously and responsibly. In the UNI-ECO project we wish to design the sustainable campus but it is students and HEI staff who will bring it to life by taking action. The concerned target group is university population including students and staff covering the whole HEI hierarchy axis. The approach that UNI-ECO has selected is a bottom-up one in order to start this transformation from the basis of each campus focusing firstly on the campus needs and secondly on its perspectives by activating all possible actors. The project aims not only at increasing the adoption of green practices and make sustainability more visible and actionable but also at developing an innovative methodology that will empower the HEI community to actively support the strategic plan of each institution. In order to implement the common mission of working together towards the target of sustainable campuses, UNI-ECO will develop an innovative methodology based on 3 key dimensions: 1/ Raise awareness` Sensitizing the HEI population remains one of UNI-ECO’s core objectives as we believe that by taking all necessary actions towards involving staff and students, sustainability will continue to develop in their hands after the completion of the project. 2/ Collaborate The project aims at collaboration among the participating universities but also among the different layers within the institutions and exchange of good practices by bringing to the surface innovative ideas coming from the staff and students. 3/ Contribute The heart of the project will be the implementation of Living Labs based on a systematic user co-creation approach integrating pedagogical tools and innovation process. As students/staff are the key users of facilities on campus, their knowledge, skills and habits are key to the successful attainment of sustainable campuses. By understanding the problem in its heart and by completely involving the direct factors (the institution and its population) and transforming them into solutions we aim at changing the perception and the behavior of university population. UNI-ECO will deliver the following outputs: IO1 Summary report on the State of the Art on Sustainable Development in HEI IO2 E-Learning Training Units for HEI staff IO3 Online Living Lab for Sustainable HEIs IO4 Road Map for a staff Empowerment on Sustainable Development Matters UNI-ECO will develop an innovative methodology and toolkit empowering the HEI community to act on Sustainable Development related matters. This comprehensive bottom-up approach along with all the methodologies used during the project’s implementation will be part of the “Road Map for a staff Empowerment on Sustainable Development Matters” so as to be adopted in the future by any other HEI interested in fostering their sustainability. The UNI-ECO project will entrust the valuable tools developed throughout its lifetime to the entire HEI community hoping that they will be the stepping stone for the Sustainable Campuses to follow in the future.
UNI-ECO focused on increasing the adoption of green practices at the university and make sustainability more visible and actionable, but also on developing an innovative methodology empowering the HEI community to actively support the strategic plan of each institution. The project applied a bottom-up approach as the key to start a transformation from the basis of each campus based on its needs, by activating and involving all possible actors at many levels. Our philosophy and objectives revolved around 3 key dimensions: 1) Raise awareness Implementing actions towards involving staff and students, in order to change their perception of sustainability and behavior and encourage them to take action 2/ Collaborate Make collaboration the norm, among the participating universities but also among the different layers within the institutions and exchange of good practices by bringing to the surface innovative ideas coming from the staff and students 3/ Contribute Adopt a systematic co-creation approach integrating pedagogical tools and innovation process. As students/staff are the key users of facilities on campus, their knowledge, skills, habits and contributions were key to the successful attainment of sustainable campuses.
UNI-ECO takes inspiration in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identified by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 as a road-map for supporting changes at all scales. It is also rooted the the Green Deal of the European Commission. It was designed to address the need to build social and environmental sustainability into the core ethos of modern university, seeing Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as drivers of societal change. As a starting point, UNI-ECO identifies sustainability as a crucial issue of the contemporary societies. Now more than ever, it has become a vital need to transform our lifestyle in order to be in line with the many initiatives aiming at reaching the UN SDGs by 2030. As "Education for Sustainable Development" describes education that empowers people to design the future actively, autonomously and responsibly, UNI-ECO had the objective to design a sustainable campus, with students and HEI Staff bringing it to life by taking action.