The engagement of universities on social responsibility
UPM leads an Erasmus+ project to promote social and civic competences among students through professional internships.
Increase the involvement of technical universities in social responsibility of companies and organizations. This is the goal of an European project led by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) which targets students approaching the labour market for the first time through professional internships. Partners of the project are University of Bordeaux (France), University of Miskolc (Hungary), New University of Lisbon (Portugal) and Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany). The collaboration between these universities aims to promote the inclusion of social and civic responsibilities, fundamental in the curriculum of technical universities in Europe.
The IN4SOC project - INternships for enhancing SOcial and Civic Key Competences for Lifelong Learning in Technical Universities was approved by the European Union in the call for proposals of the Erasmus+ 2018 programme as part of the Strategic Partnership for higher education. UPM’s participation is carried out through the research group Sostenibilidad en la Construcción y en la Industria (UPM-giSCI), directed by Justo García Navarro, professor at Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Alimentaria y de Biosistemas (ETSIAAB).
The project started last September and it will have a total duration of three years. The expected results include guidelines to formulate replicable socio-civic internships, guides for ensuring the success of these internships, as well as tools to be used by students and organizations. The project also aims to establish the basis for a future network of universities offering these internships, which will enlarge the cooperation between academia and the rest of society. In this respect, the researchers emphasize that an effective collaboration with industry is part of universities’ commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
