Environmental Portfolio: the need for modernised curricula focusing on environmental issues

The objective of this analysis is to bring out the gaps in the contemporary University curricula in terms of the knowledge and skills that are fostered through them, while on the other hand highlight the importance for the inclusion of Environmental issues, across the different disciplines.

Environmental portfolio

Environmental Portfolio is a set of four university courses developed by all partners, along with the accompanying materials for the professors/teachers and the students/learners. In specific, the partners will design the courses identified, based on the results of O1. The proposed topics for the short courses to be developed are:

  1. Participatory methods in sustainable management of natural resources
  2. Current state and future of the Baltic and Mediterranean Area in an interdisciplinary perspective
  3. Entrepreneurship-Intelligent energy
  4. Applied Energy management systems in/for organisations (including schools).

Environmental Portfolio Didactic Manual

The partners will develop the didactic manual, which will include valuable information on what the course is about, which are the learning objectives for each unit, which are the learning outcomes, as well as which is the knowledge and skill the participants are expected to have gained after successfully participation of the course. Moreover, the manual will include information on learning techniques to motivate and engage the learners/ students and how to help them commit to completing the e-Course developed. Reference material will also be available, as well as recommendations for further reading.

Energy Management System Guidelines

The Energy management System Guidelines will provide the methodological reference document for teachers and trainers to assist their students and learners respectively to develop an Energy Management System for the organisations selected. Within the document, important information will be provided in terms of the steps that need to be taken, the tools that can be used and the objective each step described has. The partners, through the document, will aim at providing a handbook without too many technical details, which will the target groups will be in the position to use during the validation phase of the project and guide the selected students/ learners through the process of developing an EnMS. The document, following its finalisation, will be translated in all partners’ languages, to facilitate its use.

Environmental Portfolio eLearning courses

To complete the training courses of the Environmental Portfolio, the partners will develop and deliver the eLearning platform, through which the courses will be available to the target groups.

In parallel, the partners will adapt the content already developed, to serve the purposes of the eLearning component of the project, which will be made available through the platform. In specific, the platform will include a subset of the courses already developed, specifically designed and supported to be undertaken through eLearning. As already described above, the units of the course will be:

  1. Participatory methods in sustainable management of natural resources;
  2. Current state and future of the Baltic and Mediterranean Area in an interdisciplinary perspective;
  3. Entrepreneurship-Intelligent energy;
  4. Applied Energy management systems in/for organisations (including schools).

Scientific Publications

To significantly contribute to raising awareness on the necessity for incorporating the Environmental Portfolio in the current curriculum in HE, the Universities which participate in the consortium will draft and deliver four articles (one each) to be published to a scientific journal or magazine. The articles will focus on highlighting the need for a change in the HE institutions to enhance their curriculum towards becoming environmentally oriented, across various disciplines. Such objective is clear, not only through the national strategies of the participating countries, but also at European Level. Therefore, the scientific community should be made aware of the positive effects of applying the Environmental Portfolio.

The content of the articles will be decided among the Universities and each one of them will be complementary to the other, aiming at providing a holistic picture of what the project has identified, how it has addressed the needs of the target groups and which was the feedback. All three articles are due to be delivered by month 22 and published by the end of the project cycle.

Share