The new model of European universities that the European Union promotes to achieve higher quality and more competitive higher education is already a reality that works. Thousands of students are trained under this pioneering teaching system, based on accessibility and mobility and focused on solving society’s current challenges. Specifically, the European university CHARM-EU, led by the University of Barcelona, ??has been teaching the master’s degree in Global Challenges for Sustainability for three years now. The first class was made up of 65 students and the second, which will graduate in February, was made up of 63. 65% of the students come from central and northern Europe; 15% from southern Europe; 10% from the rest of Europe, and the bull 10% are of non-European origin.
Each of the new European universities is the result of the alliance between different higher education centers. In the case of CHARM-EU, co-financed by the Erasmus program, its members are the UB, Trinity College in Dublin, the University of Utrecht, the University of Montpeller, the Loránd Eötvös University of Budapest, and the University of Applied Sciences. from Ruht West. CHARM-EU, an acronym for Challenge-driven accessible research-based mobile European university, is in line with European values, the European Green Deal and the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The CHARM-EU master’s degree has as its central axes transdisciplinarity, sustainability, inclusivity, attention to diversity, the open science model and the participation of social actors. The students who take it obtain a degree accredited by the five universities that make up CHARM-EU. We interviewed one of the students of the second edition of the master’s degree, Rosana Orengo Alemany, and the rector’s delegate for CHARM-EU at the UB, Sergio Villanueva, professor at the Faculty of Information and Media.
Sergio, what has been the evolution of the project and what challenges do you have in the medium term?
The most interesting thing that CHARM-EU has done is to generate an educational model based on ten principles, among which transdisciplinarity, a focus on research, orientation to social challenges, sustainability and inclusivity stand out, which generate a new educational model that has been pilot tested with the master’s degree. It is a first proof of concept of the model. The master’s degree has been taught for three years now, and we are looking at how to move from a theoretical model to concrete practice. We are learning that the model works, and now what we need to do is adapt it to the operation, to the internal cultures of the five universities at the same time. Now, for example, we are creating a PhD in sustainability (which will not be operational for another two years) that follows this same educational model. Therefore, this model is going further, with the participation and supervision of external stakeholders. The challenge is to implement the model in different educational programs, such as microcredentials. One of the new features of the master’s degree for September 2025 is that it will be taught at five to eight universities, and from 90 to 120 credits (it will last two years).
Rosana, what has impacted you the most about this master’s degree compared to the one you had studied until now?
I have been very impressed that we are working with students from all types of disciplines and nationalities. We work with tools, which are the future. Transdisciplinarity provides us with a very great value, which is why we enter the labor market. We are very prepared to work in very diverse environments.
The most important aspect is flexibility: I started in Utrecht, then I went to Dublin and the last semester I did it here, in Barcelona.
Sergio, how can the SDGs be combined with university technology education?
In the master’s degree, the incorporation of the SDGs is from the beginning. All subjects are presented with challenges, and these challenges are linked to the SDGs. Technology is the tool that allows us to make teaching hybrid and to have contact with teachers from all campuses, which allows us inclusivity and accessibility.
Rosana, has this master’s degree impacted you professionally and curricularly?
I believe that this master’s degree prepares us a lot for insertion into any work environment that we find ourselves in the future. He gets us used to working as a team, in very variable and intercultural environments, with all types of teams and personalities. Every semester we work with different groups, and this dynamism trains us for work life. An interesting aspect is when, halfway through the first semester, we realize that, after four years, we are working with people from other teaching backgrounds, who do not use the same methods or the same perspective of thinking. Economists working with biologists or journalists, each one contributing their point of view.
Sergio, what impact is the TORCH project having?
TORCH has been the development of the research dimension of CHARM-EU. The first thing that has been done has been to establish a common research agenda in the five universities oriented to the SDGs, to know how to bring together university researchers under common lines of research and, from now on, develop research programs that generate interdisciplinary teams at the five universities. In addition, it has developed a series of “pilots” in order to activate these groups. And, in the last, five action plans that are five future paths of where CHARM-EU’s research as a European university should go: more inclusive research projects, new ways of evaluating research, development of offices common research management… A series of actions that we have to study how we implement so that CHARM-EU responds to the university principles of teaching, research and service to society.
What grade did you study, Rosana?
I studied International Business and Marketing at ESIC, in Barcelona, ??and did an Erasmus in the Netherlands. I was looking for a master’s degree in sustainability, and in Utrech I found it and I loved it. I started taking it in Holland.
What professional future do you aspire to?
My training is in International Business and Marketing and now, with sustainability, my idea is to work in the sustainability department of a consultancy or a company, to help in the sustainable transition, and take advantage of the two disciplines in which I have been trained over the years. .
Sergio, if you had to set three short-term objectives for the European university, what would they be?
Continue in this generation of training products while the doctorate arrives, creating short courses of professionalizing microcredentials. At a technological level, generate a unique identity so that we have unique access to digital tools, a global technological integration. And consolidates the community strategy in research.
