Towards international cooperation and education for sustainable development: A multidisciplinary ICT and Business International Project

Abstract

Education for Sustainability aims to build awareness and knowledge of sustainability issues but also to develop students and schools that are able to think critically, innovate and provide solutions towards more sustainable patterns of living. It involves equipping people with skills, capacity and motivation to plan and manage change towards sustainability within an organisation, industry or community. Education is perceived as a catalyst for change and sustainable development. It is key to the global integrated framework of sustainable development goals (SDG), due to its potential role in strengthening sustainable development. In fact, High Education Institutions (HEIs), besides directly addressing SDG 4 – quality education, have another important role as a driver for the achievement of the full set of goals, through their commitment in human formation, knowledge production and innovation. A new experience in International Cooperation was launched by Fontys Hogeschool ICT, Netherlands in the form of an Interdisciplinary ICT and Business International Project, involving Bachelor 3rd year students and teachers from several HEI partners. The project, held annually and currently in its 7th edition, involves several HEI partners, each of them participating with an exchange of a group of six to ten students that are combined with around 60 students from Fontys ICT. Work teams are set with 5 to 6 students, where 2 or 3 students are from each partner. Participating students may have a ICT and/or Business backgrounds to allow for interdisciplinary project teams. The main project objectives are international cooperation and awareness, demonstrating entrepreneurial behavior and an interdisciplinary vision. Generally, the project will aim to apply new trends or developments in the area of IT within a business and develop entrepreneurial skills and of cooperative work in multidisciplinary and international student teams. This year´s edition of the project addressed the circular economy theme and was held under a blended scheme of learning and cooperation, combining presential and remote work stages and including technical and cultural activities. The educational content of the project was a combination of theory about the circular economy and an innovative web-based business simulation game. The game engages teams of students in the transformation from a linear to a circular value chain by implementing a circular strategy for a virtual e-bike manufacturer. Project teams run the business for several years and should manage the company efficiently while monitoring a trade-off of several sustainability and profitability key performance indicators. The project, held physically for 5 days in Fontys ICT and including two virtual sessions, involved 63 students, 12 advisors from 7 participating HEIs and 1 enterprise stakeholder (Phillips) who provided inspiration sessions, instruction and daily feedback to the project groups. The Blue Connection simulation game was used for project development and MS Teams as the online platform. This paper describes the Interdisciplinary ICT and Business International project, supervised by the authors, held as an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme, aiming to develop innovative Business IT solutions under the central topic “Transformation from linear to circular economy”. The work of the project student teams will be overall described, the methodology and outcomes assessed, and lessons learnt will be highlighted.