The project Rural 3.0: Service Learning for the Rural Development will set a framework for an integrated transnational approach of academic teaching and learning that contributes to the development of rural areas, meeting their needs and boosting innovation in these areas through an innovative methodology and creating community-university partnerships.

Goals

  • help develop the core skills and entrepreneurial capabilities of the rural community (for which such development is not easily accessible)
  • improve the quality of education for a sustainable development and promote university-community partnerships in the rural areas through the innovative service-learning methodology
  • increase the relevance of universities as their students aim to fulfil a service that is in line with the demands of the rural businesses and social needs in rural areas
  • establish a virtual Hub with a broad network of academic and rural stakeholders that will offer teaching and learning content (dedicated transnational academic module with courses on service-learning and social entrepreneurship, community training materials and digital collaborative & learning tools) and will promote interactions between universities and rural community stakeholders

Benefits

  • creation of international university-rural community alliance that promotes education and entrepreneurship of people in rural areas, bringing HEIs and rural community enterprises together to work on the common issue – development of the necessary knowledge and skills needed to make change in the rural communities
  • strengthening the skills and the innovative capacity of adult rural social entrepreneurs (SE)
  • providing practical service-learning and social entrepreneurship experiences to university students in the specific rural settings
  • development of the core skills and rural SE amongst high potential rural community in a sustainable, ecologically, and socially sound way

Aim

  • analyse in which way rural communities can be given access to services that students can provide
  • evaluate the extent to which service learning (SL) occurs in rural areas, in which forms and, how effective it is
  • establish a structure of rural service learning education shared and developed by the international HEIs and rural partners
  • promote education that improves lives of people in rural areas and their communities
  • strengthen the skills and the innovative capacity of adult rural social entrepreneurs (SE)
  • provide practical SL and SE experiences to students in the specific rural settings
  • facilitate development of the core skills and rural SE amongst high potential rural community in line with the aims of green economy