BUP for teachers
The Baltic University Programme (BUP) is committed to supporting teachers across the Baltic Sea Region. Educational opportunities for teachers at BUP participating universities include annual events such as the BUP Teachers' Course, BUP Teachers' Day, and the online course 'Introduction to Education for Sustainable Development', all of which you can read more about below. The theme of teacher events is always related to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The lectures include distinguished international researchers in the field. Other educational opportunities for teachers include contributing to the BUP Course Platform as well as using the course material in local courses via the BUP educational material bank. Additional educational events for university teachers are organised depending on funding.
There are many events and opportunities for teachers to get involved in and we invite you to do so. We can grow and develop together.
Events and opportunities for teachers
BUP Teachers' Course
The BUP Teachers’ Course aims to promote learning for the UN SDGs, especially in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in the learning methods in Higher Education.
The 2024-2025 course is coming up and applications are open. The participants will create a ‘Change project’ that is based on an already existing course, study program, or a future teaching experience. The idea is to change the content to better integrate ESD. The planning and implementation of the ‘Change project’ will be the main outcome of the course. All the participants will have the support of a critical friend and peer reviews via the e-platform Moodle and during the workshops. The BUP Teachers' Course 2024-2025.
Photo: Cecilia Lundberg
Supervisor Collegium
This is an initiative where colleagues contribute with their skills and knowledge to supervise master and PhD students from participating universities all over the region. This is a win-win situation. Both for students who can get a second set of support, but also for supervisors who get to add this to their skillset.
The main aim of the Supervisor Collegium is to exchange, grow and develop a Collegium of supervisors who can collaborate and learn together and exchange experiences in an interdisciplinary and intercultural environment.
Photo: Minerva Serrano Martinez
BUP Teachers’ Day
This event is open to all teachers in higher education within The Baltic University Programme. It is a possibility to network, gain new knowledge and inspiration, and share experiences and best practices with colleagues around the Baltic Sea Region.
At the BUP Teachers’ Day 2024, there was a focus on how educators can bring the Science of Compassion and Wellbeing into their courses. The participants got a first insight into some best practices for engaging students and colleagues and were given an introduction to SEE Learning (Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning). The coach was Ed.D. Ryder Delaloye, Associate Director for the SEE Learning Program at Emory University in Atlanta.
Photo: Cecilia Lundberg
The BUP educational material bank
As part of our efforts to develop and make educational materials widely available within the Programme, we have launched the BUP educational material bank. This is a service to BUP participating universities, supporting internationalisation and knowledge within sustainability science in English. The material bank is envisioned to give colleagues at BUP participating universities the opportunity to download and use a wide range of material while creating local courses at their university.
Introduction to Education for Sustainable Development
This online course is provided by the Open University at Åbo Akademi University (Turku/Finland) together with BUP Finland. The course is arranged annually.
The course is for students and educators who want to:
- Understand ESD and how it broadens the holistic and interdisciplinary understanding of sustainability.
- Understand how competencies like critical thinking, future scenarios skills and collaborative decision-making are promoted by ESD.
- Understand the role of ESD in both formal and informal learning.
- Get an insight of the state of ESD at the own university.
Photo: Martin Adams on Unsplash
The BUP Course Platform
One of the key missions of The Baltic University Programme is the creation of courses in a multi- and interdisciplinary sustainability context. The BUP courses are created as massive open online courses (MOOCs) that are unique in that they focus on sustainability in a Baltic Sea Region context.
The BUP is happy to welcome new contributions to all of our current courses that are published on the Course Platform. There is great value in providing new material. This could be for example a lecture focused on a specific case in the Baltic Sea Region, an analysis lecture focusing on an issue not yet covered or perhaps a new theoretical angle. So far, about 90 colleagues from 27 participating universities have contributed to the Course Platform.
