Decode Sustainability Project - Final newsletter
Dear all, the DECODE Sustainability project that started in 2020 now has come to its end. In this last newsletter we summarize the recent project activities and highlight the outcomes that were achieved. However, we expect the work on embedding sustainability in higher education to continue, based on the tools we developed and the community of deans that has been built in the past three years. This newsletter also provides an opportunity to thank all the partners involved in DECODE and the people who made it possible.
DECODE SUSTAINABILITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM IN BARCELONA
One of the outputs of DECODE is the DECODE Empowerment Program.
The program provides an opportunity for deans, heads of departments, and their representatives to learn about embedding sustainability in their academic departments. The program is an online course, consisting of several modules that provide deans with knowledge and tools for addressing the task of advancing the sustainability agenda. In order to test and improve the contents of the course, the DECODE team organized a three-day capacity building event in Barcelona, from the 22nd until the 24th of March 2023. This workshop was attended by 25 representatives from 12 different European universities. It was hosted by the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC). In the event, deans were invited to design sustainability pathways for their university and discussed the building blocks of their sustainability strategies and Impact Roadmaps. The following document includes more information:
- IO5-A5 REFLECTION AND ADJUSTMENT_ACUP.pdf
A summary of the feedback received from the participants in the Empowerment Program and its facilitators. Reflection and insights were collected through interviews and an online post-event survey.
The experiences and lessons were fed into the contents of the online training program.
INTRODUCTION TO THE ONLINE DECODE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM (SHORT WEBINAR)
The webinar introduced the tools that were developed in the DECODE project, that in combination, form the DECODE empowerment program. The webinar was designed to complement the March face-to-face session in Barcelona, in an attempt to reach those deans, heads of departments and others interested in sustainability-oriented change processes in higher education institutions.
The event was structured into two sessions, with webinar 1 about Impacting the institution through DECODE Tools, and webinar 2 about Structured Transformation through DECODE Pathways.
With the sessions participants got a sense of the structured approach and the various tools developed in the DECODE project.
DECODE FINAL TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING
From 27-28th June, 2023, ACEEU and the rest of the DECODE project partners held a face to face transnational project meeting at the La Salle University campus in Barcelona, Spain to plan the remaining activities in the project and prepare for the final multiplier event.
In the meeting, the online empowerment program was discussed, based on the experiences of the June webinar and the Barcelona workshop earlier this year. GUNI, being the partner charged with dissemination in the DECODE project, presented its plans for the final project outputs.
The team agreed on two dissemination activities held that week as part of the Triple Helix XXI conference: a panel discussion on the theme of ''The Path Towards Sustainable Universities''and a dedicated DECODE workshop on ''Embedding Sustainability in Universities and Their Academic Units''.
The DECODE partners also devoted some time to discuss the activities for following up the DECODE outcomes once the project has come to its end.
DECODE PANEL DISCUSSION during the final multiplier event
On 28th June 2023, a panel discussion on “The path towards sustainable universities” which was a central part of the Multiplier event on La Salle Campus in Barcelona, Spain as part of the ACEEU Triple E Awards and Stakeholders Forum which witnessed 350+ people, 240+ universities and 60+ nationalities.
The panel discussion included 3 panelists: William Van Ausdal (Sustainability & Climate Change Leader, Flinders University, Australia), Corina du Toit (Programme Manager for Sustainable Development Impact, Stellenbosch University, South Africa) and Lynsey Hollywood (Manager, Food & Drink Business Development Centre, Ulster University, UK). They shared insights on how to start and implement initiatives and build roadmaps towards becoming more sustainable as a higher education institution.
Panelists shared the challenges they faced, showing the steps they took along the path to become more sustainable as a university. In particular, they addressed the role of middle management in implementing the strategy for their university. Panelists concluded by presenting their vision for a truly engaged and SDG-oriented university and stressed the importance of focusing less on competition and more on collaboration.
- 30th August - 1st September 2023
DECODE presented at 35th annual CHER conference
The theme for the CHER 2023 Conference was “Higher Education Institutions as Change Agents in Society: Perspectives on Adaptation and Impact”.
Ben Jongbloed (from our project partner CHEPS - Center for Higher Education Policy Studies) presented the DECODE project and its outcomes at this conference, that yearly brings together researchers and professionals from the higher education community.
His presentation was well-received and created interest from the audience, with many wanting to know more about the tools that DECODE developed for deans to lead their department in becoming more sustainability-oriented in education, research and community engagement.
Here you can read publications related to the conference:
DECODE: TO BE CONTINUED
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Our CHEPS colleagues Anete Veidemane and Ben Jongbloed will share some of the leadership tools developed as part of Decode in an Educational Leadership development programme. The programme is entitled “Lighthouse” and it will be offered to 20+ education programme directors from Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Scotland, and the Netherlands. The training event is hosted by Aarhus University and will take place in January 2024.
- Ben and Anete will also share elements of DECODE in other future events, including a leadership development programme for high-level managers in Dutch universities and
- a workshop organized for Ukrainian higher education professionals.
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Based on their Decode work, Ben and Anete have contributed a chapter entitled ”Empowering deans for sustainability transformations at academic departments: obstacles, strategies and roadmaps” for a book that will be published by Springer in their book series “Strategies for Sustainability”.
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Access to several tools can be found on the DECODE Connect platform.
