Student Guide 2022

Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, is an open, young, vibrant and creative city with a busy cultural, political, business and commercial life. It is a metropolis where every imaginable language can be heard, as well as a city that invites its residents and visitors alike to discover its Catalan culture and traditions. Barcelona has always attracted people from all over the world, making it even more multilingual and special. It is the people living there, with their different backgrounds and cultures, who make it so cosmopolitan, diverse and intercultural. The University of Barcelona is located all over the city of Barcelona, being present with more than 16 Faculties and affiliated centers. This provides the students with a holistic experience of the city of Barcelona, being able to enjoy all its streets and corners. 

(Source: https://meet.barcelona/en)  

Useful links: 

• Learn more about the city 
• Find out more about Barcelona tourism  
• Information about the urban transport   
• Find out what to do in case of emergency 

• Information about the weather  
• Check out Barcelona’s cultural activities and Sportive Activities and Events   

Ireland is a member of the European Union and is located in the North Atlantic beside the UK. Ireland is an English-speaking country with a young, vibrant population. It boasts a unique combination of cosmopolitan cities, breath-taking scenery, idyllic countryside and historic sites. The country is a European hub for innovation and industry with global companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, Pfizer and HP based here.

The Trinity campus is located in the heart of one of the most popular and safest cities in the world. Dublin is a vibrant and multicultural European capital, which ranks as the 37th best student city in the world (QS World’s Best Student Cities 2023).  Everything the city has to offer is easily accessible to Trinity students from shops, restaurants and coffee shops to theatres, museums and clubs, ensuring that there is always something exciting for students to enjoy. If you want to take time out to relax in nature, the city’s parks (including Phoenix Park, one of the largest urban parks in Europe), an easily accessible coastline, beaches and the Dublin Mountains are all close by 

Useful links:  

• Irish Tourism:  www.visitdublin.com/
• Visit Dublin:  www.dublinvisitorcentre.ie/
• Map from Dublin
• College maps: www.tcd.ie/Maps/
• Public transport in Dublin: www.dublinpublictransport.ie/  

Utrecht is a lively student city in the heart of the Netherlands. Utrecht is a beautiful and inspiring urban setting that nurtures talent and creativity. It’s a dynamic, growing city that is characterised by a personal, human scale and offers myriad opportunities to those ready to grasp them. Last, but not least, Utrecht is an intelligent city that uses innovation and sustainability to meet new challenges and achieve its ambitions.   

Thanks to the help of a young, talented workforce and a citywide programme to create a sustainable society, Utrecht was recently voted the most competitive region in Europe. Lonely Planet ranks Utrecht in their top-10 of the world's unsung places.  

Utrecht University and the city of Utrecht offer a lively environment where students can study and live. The city has a bustling student community made up of many different student organisations and societies.   

Useful links:  

• Information about the city of Utrecht  
• Arriving and living in Utrecht  
• Read about Utrecht University  

Budapest, the capital city of Hungary is located centrally in the heart of the country. With about 1.7 million inhabitants, Budapest provides an enjoyable and vibrant atmosphere for international students during their studies. The large number of sights to visit (many of them parts of UNESCO World Heritage), vibrant cultural life, the reasonable living costs, well-developed and easy-to-use public transport network, and safety make Budapest popular among international students.  

Useful links:  

•  Information about the public transport network  
• Learn more about the affordable living costs  
• Find out more about safety in Budapest  
• Check out the city’s famous sights  
• Learn more about Hungary’s climate  

• Read about the Hungary’s currency  
• Learn a few useful Hungarian phrases  
• Find out what to do in case of emergency  

Montpellier is located in the South of France, right nearby the Mediterranean Sea. With about 300 000 inhabitants, including over 50 000 students, the city provides a very lively and dynamic atmosphere. Montpellier is also a very relaxing place to live in, with the largest pedestrian zone of the country and more than five beaches, the city offers a very enjoyable living environment. Its amazing climate (300 sunny days per year!), its heritage and cultural orientation, its outdoor-oriented lifestyle, its reasonable living costs and well-organized public transport network make it one of the top cities to study in France, attracting many international students every year.  

Useful links: 

• Information about the public transport network 
• Learn more about housing and accommodation 

• Find out more about cultural activities in Montpellier and at UM
• Check out the city’s most famous sights and must-sees 
• Learn more about life on campus in Montpellier 
• Read about the University of Montpellier 
• Learn about the climate in France  

CHARM-EU is part of the innovative European Universities Initiative, seeking to create European universities of the future. Students, staff and researchers will be skilled in navigating the twin green and digital transition, building a resilient society, and solving global societal challenges.

You will be one of the first students in Europe to take part in a European University at postgraduate level and experience this new way of teaching and learning. Throughout the Master’s, you will be pioneers and leaders for future CHARM-EU students. Your learning matters to us, to future students, and to Europe. We are always seeking improvement in our teaching and learning approaches, and as pioneers for CHARM-EU, we encourage you to share your experiences with us.

To create a university of the future, and give you the best possible learning journey, our ways of teaching need to be innovative, transformative, and future facing.  To do this, CHARM-EU teaching follows ten educational principles. These principles scaffold your educational experience. In this section we will explain what you can expect from teaching and learning in the Master’s and what will be expected from you.

The Master’s consists of three distinct phases: Preparatory phase, Flexible phase, and Capstone phase, aligned with CHARM-EU pedagogical principles, with gradual acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies and flexibility of choice.

More detailed information about the Master’s structure can be found in this section and at this document.

There are different teaching and learning methods that you will be engaged in including group work, workshops, lectures, coaching sessions, meet-the-expert sessions, tutorials, field trips and more. Every Module Coordinator has designed the module in a way that it matches with the intended learning outcomes, content, and educational principles.  

Roles in education, teaching and learning 

CHARM-EU staff and students can take different roles in the Master’s programme. Below you can find some examples of roles.

• Teacher: Teaches content to students through e.g. lectures, tutorials, workshops or other learning activities. 
  • Supervisor or coach: Monitors the overall progress of the (group) work and/or student professional development. 
  • Experts / External stakeholders: Delivers specific expertise as (external) professionals with the aim to provide new perspectives to the challenges. 
  • Guest teacher: Teaches content to students through one or a few learning activities.

• Mentor: Guides students throughout the whole Master’s curriculum. Guides students in their learning journey through student-mentor meetings. Monitors progression in relation to the Programme Learning Outcomes and provides a Mentor advice (see section “CHARM-EU Assessment” for more detailed information) based on its impressions.  
• Student: Actively engages in module activities, pro-actively communicates with the mentor and teachers and is responsible for getting the Module assessments in time into the E-portfolio (see section “CHARM-EU Assessment” for further information) 

More details about the CHARM-EU learning experience can be found in the document “Teaching and Learning: CHARM-EU Educational Experience". 

In CHARM-EU we are using an innovative approach for assessing students. The main goal of the approach is supporting students in the learning process. We are moving away from a traditional approach of assessing students in single modules and instead, assessing student development across the whole Master’s programme. One single module assessment will not be associated with a pass or fail decision.

What are the assessment indicators?

In the Master’s programme we have developed multiple Programme Learning Outcome (PLO) Domains. These domains are at the core of all Module assessments and connected to the outcomes of each module (Module Learning Outcomes). During the Master's programme you will develop yourself based on these PLO Domains and will be assessed on these.

More details about the PLO Domains can be found in the document “Teaching and Learning: CHARM-EU Educational Experience"

How will students be assessed? 

Throughout the Master’s, students will be assessed through low, intermediate, and high stakes assessments. This will ensure that all assessments are meaningful for students and contribute to the longitudinal learning process.  

1. Module assessments (low stakes): 

• Module assessments encourage students to develop themselves rather than just learning for the test. This means that a student will not be ‘punished’ for underperforming on a module assessment, but rather feels encouraged to work on a knowledge or skill gap and demonstrate later on that he/she/they managed to fill the gap. 
• All assessment activities within modules result in performance relevant information or feedback to the student about their progression. Assessment activities can include: knowledge test, presentation, essay, role play among others.  
• Module assessments do not lead to a pass or fail decision in itself, but provide meaningful feedback to the student.  

2. Mentor advice (intermediate stakes):  

• To monitor how the student is doing and to make sure that the student stays on track, a mentor provides an advice.  
• The mentor reviews the feedback the student receives during the Module assessments and how the student enacted on this (functioning as a ‘flagging system’). 
• The mentor provides the student with feedback on its overall growth and progression.

3. Phase decision (high stakes):  

• The combination of multiple module assessments and feedback from mentors will lead to a Phase decision. This means that high stakes decisions are based on multiple low- and intermediate stakes assessments. 
• These are high-stakes decisions (pass/fail) for passing a Phase (Preparatory and Flexible Phase) or the Master’s programme (Capstone Phase).   
• The assessment procedure for the Phase decision will commence after all module assessments and mentor advices have been completed. A holistic decision and judgement will be given to students by the examiner.

Who assesses students? 

• Module assessments are assessed by teachers, other relevant stakeholders, peers, and in some cases the student (self-assessment).  
• Mentors provide advice to students about growth and progression throughout the Master’s.
• Phase decisions are assessed by a group of examiners known as the Portfolio Assessment Committee. 

What is the pass grade for assessments? 

• The Phases will be graded during the high-stakes Phase decision from 0-100%. A pass mark on each Phase (thus all Modules related to that Phase) is 50% and above. The mark of the Modules of the Phase will be the overall mark obtained in the Phase itself. 

How do students keep track of their assessments? 

• Each student will use Scorion, an E-Portfolio system, that collects all assessments and feedback in one place.  Please review the section “Technology in CHARM-EU Teaching and Learning” for more information about the Virtual Learning Environment.
• Scorion provides assessment data visualizations (e.g. Spider Charts) so students can monitor how they are performing in Programme Learning Objectives. It is important that all students keep track of their E-Porfolio throughout the Master’s to help them reflect and build on their learning experiences. 
• Assessors will endeavour to provide feedback on assignments within 15 working days.

CHARM-EU mentors will be mentoring students studying on the Master’s in Global Challenges for Sustainability, and are a key part of our teaching and learning programme. They meet regularly with students to help them progress and reach CHARM-EU Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs). Mentoring in CHARM-EU is different than being a teacher; rather than teaching students module content or guiding activities, mentors listen and ask questions. They help students with forming learning goals, and support them in the plan of action their need to achieve these.

Our mentors have previous experience in teaching and assessing undergraduate or postgraduate students, and are trustworthy, empathetic, and enthusiastic individuals. Each mentor will commit 3 contact hours per phase per student between September 2022 and February 2024.

During the Master’s induction week, students are allocated one CHARM-EU mentor from our alliance institutions. The same mentor and student meet throughout the three phases of the Master’s and are both committed to maintaining a two-way supportive relationship. 

What does a CHARM-EU mentor do? 

The mentor guides, supports, and provides feedback to students across the three phases of the Master’s. 

A CHARM-EU mentor meets regularly with students to 

• Share practical advice, insights, and guidance,  
• Develop student learning goals,  
• Support student achievement of CHARM-EU Programme Learning Outcomes,  
• Provide a knowledgeable, empathetic sounding board, 
• Serve as a positive role model,  
• Discuss feedback students receive for their module assessments, 
• Informally advise students on future career development. 

Mentors also identify when a student is in difficulty and liaises with CHARM-EU support services when necessary.  

Who are CHARM-EU mentors? 

Mentors are academic teachers and researchers from a CHARM-EU partner institution. Many have worked with CHARM-EU on developing the Master’s content, and all have previous experience with mentoring university students. 

How often do students meet with their mentor? 

Students have dedicated meetings with mentors for a total of 3 hours across each Phase of the module (9 hours total). This would mean up to 18 30-minute meetings in the Master’s.    

What are the responsibilities of students in the mentoring relationship? 

Students are responsible for meeting and communicating with their mentor, being considerate reliable, and committed to the mentoring relationship throughout the entire Master’s programme.

In the image below, you can find the student assessment journey in CHARM-EU Master’s Global Challenges for Sustainability.

CHARM-EU uses Core Platforms in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) consisting of 3 main applications:

• Moodle: This is the learning management system that will be used to organize modules.
• Scorion: This is the E-portfolio for CHARM-EU that will be used for programmatic assessment.
• Microsoft Teams: This is used for collaboration and video conferencing.

You will be using all three of these to support your learning.

Each partner university has its own unique Hybrid classroom. By learning in the hybrid classrooms part of the students follow their class on-campus and other students follow this same class in real time online - either from another campus or at home. This way, on-site and remote students engage in education at the same time.

Students (and teachers) should bring their own devices to the classroom including EarPods and a microphone, a personal computer with an integrated camera and HDMI or USB-C output. Student devices should have a minimum of 8GB of RAM, in addition to the minimum requirements for Microsoft Teams.

For full details of technology in CHARM-EU teaching and learning please read this document.