IntegratEU: Summer schools on environmental protection, sustainability & ecological behavior to support the integration and inclusion of migrants & refugees in the higher education – enhance the university professors competences

Programme: Erasmus+ Porgramme, KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education, Call 2023

Project coordinator: Sveuciliste U Zagrebu / University of Zagreb (Croatia)

Project partners: Uniwersytet Warszawski (Poland), Universita Degli Studi Di Catania (Italy), Vilniaus Kolegija (Lithuania), Pax Rhodopica Foundation (Bulgaria) and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine)

Project duration: 31/12/2023 – 29/06/2026

The main objective of IntegratEU is to develop an innovative, multidimensional, transversal & interactive approach for enhancing the competences of university academia to conduct through the environmental summer school an educational process regarding social inclusion & integration of people from vulnerable groups, migrants & refugees (mainly Ukrainian refugees) in the EU society and to support them to understand & adapt better to the current European context and to apprehend, respect & appreciate the shared European values.

IntegratEU sets out also the following specific objectives:

  • Raise the awareness of the university academia about the need to organize and conduct on-wheels summer schools (OWSS) in environment protection & management and through the education process to support the integration of the beneficieries from the viewpoint of the shared European values, principles and identity and to overcome the existing stereotypes & prejudice towards migrants & refugees.

  • To develop the necessary tools for university academia to teach the people from vulnerable groups, migrants & refugees on the importance of environmental sustainability & protection as part of one of the three main pillars of the EU.

  • To create the required framework & guidance for university academia to organize OWSS where through face-to-face & outdoor activities the people from vulnerable groups, migrants & refugees will be more open, willing & capable to understand the EU policy & shared values in order to be more prepared and to integrate better in the common EU family.

  • To enhance the competences of the university academia to help & support the people from vulnerable groups, migrants & refugees to meet local people in order to facilitate their better integration in local community & in society in general.

  • To expand & deepen the knowledge & skills of the university academia to support the people from vulnerable groups, migrants & refugees to get a better understanding of local & European higher education, to facilitate their contact with the university professors & to motivate them to enrol in the higher education system after the OWSS.

IntegratEU main target group are the representatives of the university academia with interest in environment management, sustainability & protections as well as in supporting the social inclusion & integration of valuable groups, migrants & refugees in the EU values, principles and identity. The main project target group includes: university professors; junior and senior assistants; university researchers; postdoctoral scholars; PhD students working in the field of IntegratEU topic, etc.

Project results:

  • Conceptual framework – it describes the approaches & methods that will be applied in the development of all IntegratEU results.

  • Training pack includes development of three separate documents:

    • Handbook for the summer schools – it includes all training materials that are to be used for the education process during the summer schools. It will include some theoretic content but the main materials are case studies, good examples, videos on various topics related to environment protection & migrants inclusion, etc.

    • Collection of outdoor activities – it is a compilation of various face-to-face and outdoor activities to be used during the summer schools as a way to keep the engagement & motivation high. It also includes instructions for the summer school professor on how to realise the provided activities and how to keep the summer schools participants engaged & motivated during the classes.

    • Manual on how to organize IntgratEU summer schools – it provides practical instructions on how to plan, how to organize & how to conduct IntegratEU summer school to support the integration and inclusion of migrants & refugees in the higher education.

  • Integration pack includes two documents:

    • Manual on Integration development – it includes didactical plan for the professors on how to make the most of the educational process during the summer school. The Manual includes good educational practices for delivering inclusive training & for doing outdoor activities with focus on environment protection and sustainability.

    • Higher education Guidebook for migrants and refugees development – it is a guidebook for the migrants & refugees with two separate sections: Section on higher education and Section on environment behaviour.

  • Educational e-learning platform with all project results

  • Interactive library with various interactive & passive materials on IntegratEU topic

Project website: in process of development