2nd UNI-ECO Summer School held successfully!
After a 1st edition organized online in June 2021 due to the pandemic, the UNI-ECO project just held its 2nd Summer School, in-person this time! The event was hosted by the Green Office of Utrecht University from June 6-10, and perfectly highlighted how CHARM-EU universities are committed to make higher education more sustainable.
Collaboration between students and employees
The Summer School gathered students and employees of the 5 CHARM-EU universities involved in the Green Challenges (GC) initiative of the UNI-ECO project. GCs are projects submitted by campus users (staff and students) and currently being implemented on the 5 campuses of the alliance under the umbrella of UNI-ECO. 20 of these campus users were selected for the greatness, originality, and replication potential of their GC project to participate in the Summer School and work together to solve concrete sustainability issues that the universities are facing.
An intense program around key CHARM-EU topics
The program revolved around 3 main topics addressed by the UNI-ECO project, very much in line with the CHARM-EU approach: biodiversity, circular economy, and water. Participants attended fascinating lectures given by international experts on these matters, and also got to learn about best practices conducted at the universities in relation to these areas, and the functioning of a Green office. They also inspired each other by sharing their experiences of developing their green challenges projects and collaborated in international working groups on real-life case studies related to sustainability on campus. Finally, the program also gave them a little bit of time to explore Utrecht with sustainability eyes through the Utrecht 2040 game (sustainability missions to accomplish around the city), a visit of the Botanical garden, a lot of biking, and more.
About UNI-ECO
UNI-ECO is an Erasmus+ project coordinated by the University of Montpellier and gathering the 5 CHARM-EU universities along with the NGO CESIE and the association UNIMED. It aims at reinforcing sustainability on the 5 campuses of the CHARM-EU alliance, by developing e-Learning modules, supporting sustainability projects and initiatives (Green Challenges), and issuing best practices and recommendations for other universities out of the experience of the 5 universities within the framework of the project and beyond. Learn more about UNI-ECO here.