Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Make a real impact: Join international teams to solve real-life challenges!

ECIU Challenges Autumn 2021

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Challenges are back: for the 2021 autumn semester, we invite students from ECIU member universities to join the ECIU University challenges and micro-modules.

The core of the ECIU University is the challenge-based approach where learners, teachers and researchers cooperate with business and society to solve real-life challenges.

Challenges are short or semester-long courses that enable teams to solve real-life problems. Micro-modules support learners, for example, deepen the general knowledge in United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) or foster inter-cultural and foreign language competence.

More than a hundred students have already participated in over 30 ECIU University challenges that included a wide selection of themes: from transforming the free food distribution to making public space usable. Get to know the first-hand experience of participants and explore new challenges: challenges.eciu.org/challenges

Why participate?

  • Make a real impact. Gain first-hand experience and a possibility to contribute to real societal change. ECIU University challenges are provided by business companies and public partners and include problems that communities and organisations face at this very moment. ECIU University challenges mostly concern UN SDG no. 11 “Sustainable cities and communities”.
  • Connections and multidisciplinary environment. Work with other learners, teachers, experts, representatives from business and public companies from different backgrounds and grow your network of connections.
  • New skills and inter-cultural environment. Build up inter-cultural competence, exchange practices and ideas, develop problem-solving and team-work skills. Use the opportunity to deepen the knowledge in various thematic areas participating in the ECIU University micro-modules.
  • Recognition and development. After successfully completing the challenge, receive a Certificate of Participation. You might have an opportunity to develop proposed solutions further, resulting in new services, products, research questions or start-ups and spin-offs.

How does it work?

  • Explore the challenges in the Challenge platform. Challenges are provided by a city, region or business or public company. Challenges can vary in length, from one or two-day “Nano Challenge” to “Standard Challenge” stretching up to the semester length.
  • Register to the platform and to the challenges. More details about application and criteria can be found here: www.eciu.org/for-learners/about
  • After your application is approved, join an international or/and multidisciplinary team that includes other learners and a team facilitator, called a “teamcher”.
  • Work with the challenge provider, engage and investigate the challenge using the challenge-based learning method, and, finally, propose the solution.
  • Select micro-modules that help gain additional knowledge or skills.
  • Receive a Certificate of Participation and Challenge Supplement mentioning more details for the work carried out.
  • Grab a chance to further develop the proposed solutions with your team.

Requirements for student to join the ECIU University challenges

  • Studies in one of the 12 ECIU University member institutions.
  • Enrolment in a master’s degree programme or final year of a bachelor’s degree programme.
  • Completed 120 ECTS of higher education studies at undergraduate level.  
  • English language proficiency: B2 (Self-assessment, CEFR of languages). 

Upon successful and certified completion of the Challenge, students may be awarded UniTrento elective credits according to the regulations of each Department and subject to the prior approval of the Student Support and Study Program Offices.

ECIU University is an EU-funded initiative that is being developed by 12 strong Universities in Europe. Join us to co-create a new way for education on the European scale!

Explore and apply to the challenges and the micro-modules

Opportunity to get a financial support for the mobility

In case of physical mobility, there is the possibility to obtain a grant for a short mobility period. If you are interested in obtaining a grant for these initiatives, please fill in the online application before the beginning of the Challenge or Micro-Module.

Attention: the financial application does not in any case replace the application for separate individual initiatives promoted on the ECIU site

For further information please contact international [at] unitn.it