Cooperation Partnerships in Higher Education

About the Project

According to the UNHCR’s 2019 education strategy, “Refugee Education 2030: A strategy for refugee inclusion”, only 3% of refugees have access to HE compared to the 37% global HE access rate. The project intends to overcome the waste of talent and human potential in the foreseen target group. Considering the large number of migrants that partnership countries have been receiving in the last years, this is the time for building bridges instead of walls, focusing efforts on a common goal, not only between the EU countries and the communities who are arriving but also inside and between the EU countries. Within the project, the consortium intends to attract migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to HE so that they can acquire the necessary educational tools to enter the workforce and develop knowledge, skills, and values that lead to continued wealth and prosperity for themselves and for the communities they will be integrated into.

The project will focus on the development of the STEAM courses to be offered to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, namely women and pupils in upper secondary school (15 – 18 years old), who are particularly vulnerable to being marginalised in STEAM. The consortium will develop 5 STEAM courses, mainly in the environment, climate change and sustainable development study fields, which come in line not only with European priorities but also with their home countries’ needs, preparing the participants both to remain in Europe in the future as well as to return to their home countries, when conflicts come to an end, with the appropriate tools and skills to rebuilding them in a sustainable way.

The developed courses will be delivered face-to-face at the partner institutions (UMinho, UBSF, UniPG, AUTh and METU), supporting the communities’ integration through social activities as well as cultural exchange, with the strong support and participation of the Assoc. Partners (local/national authorities and associations responsible for the reception of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers) and of the in-house volunteer students. The STEAMigPOWER courses will then be adapted to the online format, being available at the project’s open VLE platform, which intends to position itself as a well-recognized European platform for offering STEAM courses during and after the execution of the project, fueled not only by the participating institutions but also by other institutions that may develop educational contents/courses to these target group.

The STEAMigPOWER will start with an intensive program about EU civic integration, which is the basis for their integration, and participants will also receive training on digital storytelling, providing them with skills to create digital stories to express their thoughts, ideas, creativity and memories of their STEAM learning experiences (being also a way for participants to build their information and visual literacy in STEAM), which will be offered in the second phase of the Intensive Programs.

The partners of the project were carefully chosen considering the impact of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean countries and the worsening of the situation in Southern Europe. In fact, around 90% of illegal border crossings to the EU are via the Mediterranean Sea (Giuliani, 2015). All partners are truly committed to the mission to integrate the migrants, working together for establishing a platform that will offer STEAM courses, skills and competencies oriented to these communities and creating a network of HEIs and other organizations which will work on a long-term with the same goal.

Objectives

The STEAMigPOWER project’s main objectives are:
1 – Development of the 2-day STEAMigPOWER introductory Blended Intensive Program on EU Civic Integration and Digital Storytelling: to be delivered at the partners’ HEIs to at least 250 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (50 per HEI), focusing on women and pupils in upper secondary school (15 – 18 years old).

2 – Development and delivery of the 5-day on-site STEAMigPOWER Intensive Program on Environment and Fight against Climate Change: delivery of a total of 5 STEAM courses. – to be delivered at the partners’ HEIs to at least 250 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (50 per HEI), focusing on women and pupils in upper secondary school (15 – 18 years old).

3 – Development of an open-access VLE platform to deliver the online courses created within the project, also aiming at the participation and content production by other European and worldwide institutions who are interested in contributing to this cause after the project’s lifetime – the creation of the STEAMigPOWER network.

4 – Development and delivery of the STEAMigPOWER Intensive Program Modules in an online format, to be available at the VLE platform (aiming at reaching at least 500,000 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers).

Project Results

Work Package 2

– Guidelines for the Digital Storytelling and EU Civic Integration blended course
– Trainers prepared to support the blended courses to their local participants
– STEAMigPOWER Introductory Blended Intensive Program, where 1600 digital stories (6 per each participant in the STEAMigPOWER program – one in the introductory course and one for each of the 5 STEAMigPOWER modules) will be published

Work Package 3

– Report on the state of the art of strategies and methodologies for STEAM in Europe and on initiatives/courses directed to refugees/asylum seekers in Europe, focusing on women and pupils in upper secondary school
– Final Report on the strategies and methodologies for the STEAM Intensive Programs
– 5 STEAM courses created
– Guidelines to deliver the STEAM courses
– Trainers prepared to offer the full STEAMigPOWER program
– STEAMigPOWER program delivered to 250 participants
– Report on best practices for online STEAM courses
– Guidelines on online STEAM Intensive Program Modules
– Report on the adaptation of the STEAM Intensive Program Modules to online courses

Work Package 4

– Specifications of the STEAMigPOWER VLE
– STEAMigPOWER VLE
– STEAMigPOWER Online Course
– Pilot testing of the STEAMigPOWER MOOC
– Development of STEAMigPOWER Online Course in Greek, Portuguese, Turkish and Spanish
– Course Delivery
– Evaluation and improvement of the Course
– STEAMigPOWER VLE Platform Monitoring

Project title: STEAM approaches at higher education for mIGrants, refugees and asylum seekers’ emPOWERment
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education
Project identification/ contract number: 2022-1-PT01-KA220-HED-000088221
Start: 01.12.2022 End: 30.11.2025
Coordinator: UNIVERSIDADEDO MINHO, Portugal https://www.uminho.pt/
Partners: UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PERUGIA, Italy http://unipg.it
FUNDACIO SOLIDARITAT UB, Spain www.solidaritat.ub.edu
ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI, Greece www.auth.gr
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, Turkey http://www.metu.edu.tr
S.E.A.L CYPRUS, Cyprus https://www.facebook.com/sealngocy

Visit the official project website: TBA