UE4SD Academy

The UE4SD Academy is a key activity of the UE4SD Project, piloting an approach to ESD professional development for teams from 4 UE4SD partner institutions. The Academy process involved:

• 4 university teams developing their own ESD capacity development projects
• A 1 year development phase for each project within its institutional context
• A residential training programme involving all 4 teams working together

The Academy process was designed and co-ordinated by the UE4SD Steering Group, led by the University Autonoma Madrid. It also provides one of the unique examples of new and leading practice in ESD professional development in Higher Education linked to the UE4SD project.

In this section you can find adaptable ideas and materials to explore:

• Academy Concept and Overview

The materials below provide an overview of the Academy experience, based on the final residential programme that took place from 12th to 14th April 2016 in Granada, Spain.

Participants included the 4 pilot university teams, UE4SD Steering Group members and external participants. The residential involved 3 days of action learning, professional development sessions, peer exchange, group discussions and materials development. The aims were to:

• Extend competences and professional practice in ESD
• Critically reflect on experiences of culture change through ESD
• Develop personal and shared understanding of ESD in practice
• Generate insights into ESD professional development
• Identify challenges and opportunities in the ESD projects
• Build teams and grow capacity for institutional ESD development

Individual Academy Projects

Universitat de Girona	Universidad de Granada	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Universidad del País Vasco
Project Focus: Supporting academic staff development through Co-ordinators of Studies to connect teaching and research	Project Focus: Developing ESD innovation through the early career training activities for university teaching staff	Project Focus: Professional capacity building in ESD through workshops and online interaction across departments	Project Focus: Using a Campus Living Laboratory approach to support trans-disciplinary ESD development.