BUP Teachers' Course 2024-2025
The sixth version of the course was running from September 2024 to April 2025. As in previous years, the course was organised by the BUP Associated Secretariat and the National Centre in Finland, located at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Åbo Akademi University. The teachers were PhD Shepherd Urenje and PhD Cecilia Lundberg. PhD Ylva Gustafsson was involved in the first half of the course during the autumn of 2024.
The aim of the study process is to support university teachers in integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into their teaching and courses to strengthen the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The course got 115 applications, of which 31 were selected based on their motivation letter and preliminary idea for a 'Change Project'. The participants were also chosen to get as diverse a group as possible, i.e. country, BUP participating universities, and variety of subjects. Ideally, there would be two participants from the same department and university, but to make the course available for as many as possible, only one participant from each university was able to get a place.
The structure of the course
The course consists of an e-learning part about sustainability, ESD and climate change with self-studying and assignments. Each participant also develops a so-called 'Change project' during the course. The 'Change project' 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' is the main outcome of the course. The aims for the two workshops are to deepen the knowledge and methods in ESD, as well as the planning and reflection on the Change Projects and collaborative learning. The course corresponds to 5 ECTS credit points (133 hours) at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Åbo Akademi University, Finland. All participants who have all assignments, including the Change project, approved, and have participated in at least one of the workshops (compensatory task if you were not able to attend more than one workshop), will get a course certificate.
The course 2024-2025
Of the 31 participants, four cancelled or did not participate in either the workshops or the assignments online. Three participants took part in all the distance work but could not participate in either of the workshops and needed to finalise the course in an alternative way. Of the final 25 participants, 22 took part in workshop one, which was held at Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, on 8-10 October 2024. In the second workshop at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, on 13-14 March 2025, 14 participants took part. Ten participants needed to cancel their participation quite late for different reasons, one was the uncertain situation in Ukraine.
The participants were teachers in Higher Education from the ten BUP countries (Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, and Ukraine), from 31 different BUP participating universities, with subjects from landscape architecture and sociology to food science and logistics.
Participants and teachers at the first workshop. All participants represented different universities from nine of the BUP countries. Photo: Charlotta Rosenberg-Meereboer
Evaluation of the event
The feedback survey generated positive responses from both the online part and, especially, the workshops. The overall grade for the whole course (on the scale 1-5) was 4.5. The evaluation gave valuable insights for the organisers, and the comments will be considered when planning the coming courses.
Quotes from the evaluation
“The course gave me an outstanding opportunity and instruments to combine and bring into life what I am worried about in terms of education and the current state of the world. The idea of a Change Project is very reasonable, as it helps to find a problem or gap and fill it, gently assisting its implementation throughout the course.”
“It was very valuable to meet with all the colleagues from different countries and fields, it provided a broad overview for my own thinking.”
“The workshops were the most interesting part of the course. Interactions allowed us to learn from each other.”
Potential improvements
The participants suggested a few different things which could be revised for an upcoming edition of the course. Some of these were to give a more in depth introduction to the course, updating the material and teaching methods as well as adding more online meetings.
Organiser voice - Cecilia Lundberg
“It is an honor to arrange these courses. To see how a group of teachers are working for change and how their work engage and create new ideas and networks. Collaboration as its best.“
Participant evaluations
- The participants were pleased with the learning methods during the workshops, giving them an 4.7/5 overall rating.
- The vast majority of the participants thought that the course was useful for their work, rating this at 4.5/5.
- On the question whether they learned something new about ESD, which they will try to apply in my their teaching, most agreed, giving it a rating of 4.4/5.
- The participants thought the cooperation between the participants worked well, giving an overall rating of 4.7/5.
Voices of participants
Sandra Haas - Participant from Technische Hochschule Wildau
To be honest, I expected to learn a lot from the progressive Scandinavians in terms of higher education. I was also looking for critical feedback from experienced learning supervisors.
I enjoyed the workshop days in Turku and Lublin the most. Here, I realized how much one takes away from the exchange and cooperation with colleagues from other disciplines and countries. These are values that you don't get from webinars, papers, or forum posts.
From a practical point of view, I am taking away a final concept for my new module. I also took away a lot of good material, such as tasks and freely accessible videos, which I can use in my teaching. I got to know two new European cities and realized that I am quite a “Northern European” and feel at home here. And, I met nice people, learned from their stories and rediscovered my love for cultural differences.
Jianguo Ding - Participant from Blekinge Institute of Technology
Before attending, I wanted to learn about the application of sustainability in higher education.
The teacher's lectures helped us to understand more about sustainable development. The lectures, change projects, and workshops were beneficial.
I have learned about sustainability and how to integrate it into higher education through both teaching and research practices.
Images from the course
Photo: Cecilia Lundberg
Active work and collaboration during the first workshop at Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, in October 2024.
Photo: Cecilia Lundberg
The participants at the second workshop, held at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, in March 2025.
Photo: Magdalena Suchora
During workshop two, two of the mentors joined on Zoom.