Young Sparks Symposium
Main Info
TCA Description
This TCA aims at creating a common
understanding of guiding principles of education for sustainable development. Students and teachers selected from the Higher
Education Institutions in Europe and beyond will be invited to attend several
panel discussions presented by distinguished internationally recognized keynotes
speakers with Nobel prices among them, on current relevant topics such as scientific
knowledge, technology, environment and territory human sustainability. Through
the stories of the discussants, participants will be inspired and will receive useful
inputs to further deepen and implement in their own future projects.
Exchange and discussion between participants will be facilitated to help them develop
their own approach to sustainable initiatives. The event is mainly addressed to
the higher education sector, specifically to young students/researchers and
teachers.
Participant students will be supported by tutors, selected from local students, to help them make the most of the TCA and engage actively in the discussions. Moreover, participants will get access to a dedicated App where to find the TCA contents and relevant documents, useful information on the hosting territory and to exchange with other participants.
The main topics of the TCA will be: mankind and science, humanism and
technology and humanity and territory.
- Participants will acquire insights on scientific research and technology and their close link to human values and the guiding principles of education for sustainable development and for an human sustainability.
- The
conference will raise awareness on the significance and potential benefits of
implementing sustainability projects and sustainable actions.
- Participants
will draft a final declaration in order to leave an important trace of the
inspiration received during the events.
The event will host, with an international
representation from the five continents, over 200 students from more than 100
universities from all over the world, called to interact with those who will
offer them their precious testimony in the field of scientific knowledge and of
technology in its healthy relationship with humanism.
The event will start at 10 am on the 4th of September and it will
finish in the night of the 7th September; so the arrival date will
be on the 3rd of September and the departure will be on the 8th of
September.
The accommodation costs (from the night of the 3rd of September up
to the 7th of September) and the meals, all the lunches (4th,5th,6th and 7th of September) and the dinners of the 6th and 7th September, will be covered by the Italian NA. The dinners of the 4th and the 5th of September won't be covered by the Italian NA.
Partners and participants
Students enrolled in the higher education institution submitting an application with experience of Erasmus+ international mobility and cooperation and/or with experience in the field of environmental sustainability;
Lecturers in service at the higher education institution submitting an application with experience of Erasmus+ international mobility and cooperation and/or with experience in the field of environmental sustainability;
Please follow criteria that will make possible to achieve a balance in the variety of participants (i.e. respecting gender balance and geographical origin, considering also participants outside Europe).
Pending booked places
Accepted places
TCA Participant Application
Long-term Activity Info
The new programme generation Erasmus+ starts off in a challenging time.
Covid-19 is still dominating discussions on education, mobility and European
cooperation as well as accelerating the demand for smart digital solutions throughout
the European Union and its programmes.
Even though these issues still capture the attention (and time) of most
NAs, we are all finding our paths towards the so-called “new normal”. Part of
this new normality is to recollect and revive long-term goals as well as
introduce new ways to thrive in the upcoming future.
The important discussion on sustainability and greening Erasmus+ is one
that survived Covid-19 and even gained in relevance. Already before Covid-19,
it was announced that Erasmus+ will entail a new priority on sustainability. Therefore,
we as NAs are at the core when it comes to make sustainability a priority
within our organisations and to enable beneficiaries to engage into
transnational cooperation among each other to improve qualitative
implementation of the programme even further.
Nevertheless, the formal tie of sustainability and greening as a
priority in the Erasmus+ program is relatively new. In 2020 the horizontal
priority “environmental and climate goals” was introduced. However, other
already existing frameworks show that we can tackle the climate topic in a
holistic approach, namely sustainability.
The European Commission hopes to link the two topics – coronavirus and
the climate. It is proposing a €750 billion recovery package entitled “Next Generation EU”, with funds going towards the ecological
transformation of the economy – charging points, the renovation of buildings
and the hydrogen economy.
The European Commission also presented its industrial strategy in
connection with the Green Deal in March 2020. One of its focal areas is
decarbonising energy-intensive industry and establishing a hydrogen economy. The
aim is to produce the gas with the aid of renewable energy and use it to make
sectors such as steel production or heavy vehicle traffic more
climate-friendly. It also comprises a right to repairs, the recycling of
batteries, replacing disposable packaging with reusable alternatives, and
collecting and recycling more textiles and electrical appliances, or ensuring
that they last longer.
In March 2020, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new climate regulation as a central element of its Green Deal. This entails
the EU achieving net climate neutrality by 2050, meaning that climate gases may
still be emitted, but they must be offset elsewhere.
In April 2021, a deal on the European Climate Law has been reached,
making legal obligations of the goals stipulated by the European Green Deal to
create a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions
by at least 55% by 2030.
During its Presidency of the Council, Germany has taken up the
discussion on sustainability in education and research. The German federal government’s website provides details of its work. One of the main developments of Germany’s
council presidency is the Osnabrück Declaration, which defines vocational
education and training as an enabler of recovery and just transitions to
digital and green economies.
Sustainability should be a guiding
principle for all Erasmus+ projects
Future projects should be designed in an eco-friendly way and should
incorporate green practices in all its facets.
Organisations and participants should have an environmental-friendly
approach when designing the project, which will encourage everyone involved in
the project to discuss and learn about environmental issues, reflecting about
what can be done at different levels and help organisations and participants to
come up with alternative, greener ways to implement project activities.
The new programme aims to support, across all sectors, awareness-raising
about environmental and climate change challenges. Priority will be given to
projects aimed at developing competences in various sustainability-relevant fields,
developing green sectorial skills strategies and methodologies, as well as
future-oriented curricula that better meet the needs of individuals. The
programme supports the use of innovative practices to make learners, staff and
youth workers true factors of change (e.g. save resources, reduce energy use
and waste, compensate carbon footprint emissions, opt for sustainable food and
mobility choices, etc.).
- Increase of the (potential) impact of Erasmus projects regarding sustainability practices
- Development of a strategy to reach beneficiaries and encourage them to engage with sustainability
- Facilitation of exchange and discussion between beneficiaries to help them develop their own approach to green initiatives
- Communication of the benefits of working on sustainability at both the European and national levels to the Erasmus community
- Communication of the significance and urgency to act on climate change in all parts of society
- Creation of a common understanding of guiding principles in sustainability. (emissions, food produce, less resource use, less waste, more local produce, reproducing crops, less plastic, less use of pesticides..)
- See connected activities
The LTA sustainability aims at encouraging more potential programme participants to engage in mobility or projects to increase their knowledge on principles and models of sustainability, and to facilitate more national engagement in the long-term perspective. The LTA should create a space for shared insights and experience sharing on green initiatives. The participants of the activities in the framework of the LTA sustainability should also include experienced beneficiaries to share approaches and talk about their motivation to work on green initiatives. The LTA will focus on capacity building and green initiatives, especially in Education for Sustainable Development.