The objectives of this project were to enable study visits between the partners concluding in the development of a textbook, online course, and digital tool. We wanted to strengthen the academic and the educational connections between our three EU member countries’ universities (Sweden, Belgium and Italy) and to establish a close relationship with the colleagues at Belgrade University and our NGO partner in Serbia with the goal to support exchange of ideas and knowledge within the field of alternative uses and interpretation of European industrial heritage. By providing clear project management and a planning structure we enabled efficient coordination among all the involved partners leading us together to the achievement of the planned project outcomes. Together with our Serbian partners we have been able to develop and test our up-to-date online course "European Industrial Heritage" and undertake all the necessary improvements, both regarding content and pedagogy, during the project in order to ensure its sustainability ie create long-term effects from this educational activity. Further, we utilised our resources to develop a prototype of a virtual tour specifically applied to a Serbian case study.
We, the representatives of the consortium consisting of three universities from Sweden, Belgium, Italy, and an NGO from Serbia, together with our associated partners, believe we have cutting edge expertise in the field of online education, creation and application of visual interpretation of post-mining and other industrial activities in Europe. In our project we have contributed to the enhancement of digital communication and online learning in our Bachelor and Master programs within Tourism Studies/Tourism Management/Spatial Planning and Media Studies. This is vital in order to expand both students’ employment and life-long learning opportunities resulting in greater resilience as well as an awareness of the long-term impacts which industrial activities have had on the tourism landscapes in Europe today. We also want to take advantage of the opportunity to exchange our best know-how and academic excellence with our colleagues in Serbia who are hampered by the lack of similar opportunities to access the latest developments within the field of cultural heritage use within tourism.