LABi³ - international, interdisciplinary, innovative

”What does the path towards sustainability look like?”

On the 5th of February 2020, the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts held an open workshop on the topic of sustainability. Students as well as employees and lecturers of the university itself participated together with and across faculties to think about a sustainable future for the university.

If you want know more, check out our presentation.

Hybrid working and teaching is the combination of students, teachers, and partners participating together in person and online. This format widens the possibilities for teaching and collaboration. LABi³ established the technical requirements and digital formats for hybrid working and teaching in 2019/2020.

The first hybrid international workshop was held in 2020 with participants from all of our partner universities as well as several faculties and institutions of the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The participants experienced the structures of hybrid formats and realised its potential for project conception, reconciliation, and innovative teaching.

Lab work and practice courses in LABi³ aim to expand students’ knowledge and promote the practice transfer of their know-how to problem-solving on the topic of sustainable circular economy. Interdisciplinary thinking and social competence of students are trained within LABi³ practice-oriented courses.

International and German students took part in a LABi³ practice course, in which students independently developed research projects to improve sustainability processes in the field of food technology. Students took responsibility for their own work in literature research, definition of the research question, project planning, and experimental implementation. The course was held with the design thinking method and required deep communication using technical language in English. During implementation of the self-developed research experiment, students were given technical and practical training in the dairy technology centre and the laboratories of the Hochschule Hannover. Scientific writing and the presentation of results were practised through the online presentation of the project.

Interdisciplinary work is the means to respond to the complex ecological, economical, and social challenges for the development of a sustainable future. LABi³’s goal is to initiate interdisciplinary teaching events, courses, and study programmes for students with multidisciplinary backgrounds to elaborate on integrative solutions for the current problems and barriers on the way to local, national and worldwide sustainable development.

Concepts for a sustainable university were developed across faculties with more than 50 participants from Hochschule Hannover in a LABi³ open space workshop in spring 2020. In autumn 2020, more than 30 representatives of the international LABi³ partner universities, as well as faculties and organisational units of Hochschule Hannover developed a wide range of interdisciplinary teaching formats to educate international students on the topic of sustainable circular economy. These formats are planned to be implemented in an interdisciplinary teaching event in 2021 in close consultation with our international partners.

The international teaching programmes developed in LABi³ aim to invite students from different countries to participate in innovative courses with a focus on interaction, communication, and independence. The students bring in different cultural backgrounds into LABi³ courses, which affects the common working atmosphere and opens up an integrative view on the complex topic of sustainable development. Country-specific examples and application solutions of circular economy broaden the perspectives of the students and they further gain insight into its worldwide importance.

The background of our incoming students is extremely diverse: Albania, Columbia, Finnland and Hungary not only in terms of languages, but also in terms of experience and concrete scientific background. We consider this a big source of learning. This source enables us to discover together and learn not just from university staff but in equalmeasure from the fellow students, which is an asset as a basis for lifelong learning.

We started with the discovery of the unknown culture by writing a “Diary of Foreignness” by exchanging openly about the common and differencing points of our home cultures.

Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania is the largest graduate, postgraduate, research and training centre for professionals and specialists in the field of agriculture and environment, especially for crop production, animal production; horticulture; plant protection; marine biology and aquaculture; natural resource management; agrarian economy; agricultural policies; integrated rural development; enterprise management; marketing; finance & accounting; agritourism, biotechnology and food; beverage industry; forestry; wood industry; veterinary medicine and public health.

At AUT, we define sustainable agriculture as production that delivers public goods and generates adequate family income, while at the same time contributes to key environmental goals, including the protection of natural and cultural resources and the achievement of successful climate change mitigation and adaptation. Topics of sustainability and sustainable circular economy are addressed as cross-cutting issues and are increasingly reflected in our curricula.

In the course of the EU accession process, we are obliged and committed to apply and adapt EU standards according to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aiming at sustainable food production, resource efficiency and avoidance of food waste.

The German-Jordanian University (GJU) is a public university located in Mushaqar. It was founded in 2005 by a Royal Decree, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding reached between the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany. In August 2004, a founding committee began up its activities in Jordan. The committee was in close cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. 

The University was modelled on the German applied-sciences model, characterized by their focus on putting knowledge into practice and on promoting knowledge transfer. We aim to play a significant role in promoting links between Jordan and Europe, particularly Germany. By taking advantage of the best educational practices in both Jordan and Germany, the University has positioned itself as a leader in its field.

The University's focus is on providing undergraduate and graduate programs of the highest quality. We offer over 20 programs, with a student body of around 5,000, drawn predominantly from Jordan, but also including international students. We take pride in our student-centered environment for learning and believe that quality education is founded upon close associations between faculty and students.

Environmental Engineering BSc education in the Environmental Engineering Institute of Rejtő Sándor Faculty of Light Industry and Environmental Engineering at the Óbuda University

The aim of the education is to qualify the students to be environmental engineers who are familiar with and able to perform tests to characterise and assess the quantity and quality of environmental elements, hazards, technologies and operations by state-of-the-art measuring instruments.

Responsible environmental awareness is the engineers’ key competency in general. Here at the Óbuda University, the environmental engineering students are armed with fundamental knowledge and understanding of global environmental and natural issues on the base of scientific evidences.

It is important to develop complex knowledge, - both theoretical and practical work - to ensure practice-oriented education via project work.

During the project work trainings, our studentscooperate with engineers, industrial players and decision makers involved in the development and application of different production technologies to develop the given technology in terms of environment protection.

Students of the programme participate creatively in engineering work based on their multidisciplinary skills gained by their studies.

The project work qualifies our students to solve tasks relating to water, soil, air, radiation, and noise protection problems, as well as those of waste treatment.

Depending on the topic of the given project work, students can work with global environmental problems or they can choose a more practical task as environmental assessment or audit as well as dealing with special areas of waste recycling, waste water treatment or soil remediation.

Our students are equipped with a specific understanding of environmental problems of the Light Industry, they are trained via project work to be able to deal with the tasks of Environmental Public Administration or they can specialise in the Green Energy Industry.

TAMK (Tampere University of Applied Sciences), situated in Tampere, Finland, is a professional higher education institution oriented towards working life and RDI co-operation. TAMK offers multidisciplinary education and has a strong international profile. The RDI projects develop new, broad-based solutions for regional and national needs. TAMK also helps companies to develop their product and service selection for future needs.

The aspects of sustainability and circular economy are integrated into the relevant courses of many degree programs, such as Environmental Engineering, Risk Management and Circular Economy (master’s programme), Bioprocess Engineering, Forestry etc. Sustainable development is also a core part of the research, development, and innovation activities at TAMK. Various research projects have been and are being carried out here on the following subjects: sustainable nutrient and material cycles, innovative biomaterials and packaging, and sustainable food systems.

Useful links bellow:

www.tuni.fi/en

www.tuni.fi/en/research/tamk-circular-bioeconomy-actions

uasjournal.fi/in-english/future-circular-bioeconomy-society/

University College Cork an award-winning institution with a history of independent thinking stretching back over 170 years. The university is set on 42 acres of wooded ground, only a 10 minute walk from Cork City Centre. UCC is proud to be ranked in the top 1.1% of universities in the world. Our beautiful university opened its gates to just 115 students in 1849. We now have a student population of over 23,000, with over 3,000 international students.

UCC was the first university in the world to be awarded a Green Flag from the Foundation for Environmental Education. We are ranked op 75 worldwide in Food Science and Technology and have been delivering food related education and research for almost 100 years.

The Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) is a High Quality Accredited University focussed on research and innovation. UPB currently hosts almost 25,000 students at all levels of higher education at the main campus in Medellín and at satellite campuses, of which 1,100 are international students. UPB has 74 undergraduate, 102 specialisation, 66 Master, and 12 PhD programmes. UPB has agreements with worldwide institutions in 45 countries. Its Integrated Pedagogical Model is humanistic, multidisciplinary and innovative, supported by well-resourced laboratories, equipped with specialised cutting-edge research technology, as well as digital services that facilitate access to specialised and up-to-date information. 

The UPB finds in the 2030 Agenda one of its main global benchmarks for the environmental, social, and economic impact management. Since 2017, the connection between the actions of the University and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has been made explicit in sustainability reports, so that the contribution to such goals is much more effective. In the 2020 report, UPB had positive results in the precautionary approach for Health and sustainable habits; quality education using virtual environments; decreasing water footprint; increasing clean energy generation (using solar panels); generating innovation in new business models, research and development, and teaching and learning; creating a protocol to measure carbon footprint; among others. In the University Impact Rankings 2020 – ODS 13 Climate action, the UPB reached the 1^st position in Latin America and the 10^th position in world ranking.