X Congreso Nacional y IV Internacional Aprendizaje Servicio Universitario (U10)

Presentation

In 2018, the CRUE (Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities) approved the declaration "The commitment of Spanish universities to the 2030 Agenda". The text begins by saying:

Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development constitutes an opportunity, as well as a demand, to respond to the world's challenges. The diversity and severity of the problems that put the planet and humanity at risk make it necessary to act based on in-depth knowledge of these challenges and their interdependent nature. The comprehensive principle of the Agenda calls directly on universities. A transformative reading thereof urges us to review and redefine the university as a whole: its mission, its institutional framework, its policies and its activities, in order to put sustainable development at the heart of its decisions and activity, and progress towards enhanced coherence between universities' internal and external policies. This comprehensive nature is one of the elements that bestows Agenda 2030 with the potential to transform, enabling universities to take responsibility for the building of a world that is committed to sustainable, inclusive development and to justice, dignity and equality, thereby responding to the challenges the global context poses for universities and for international society as a whole.

Declaration of the Conference of Spanish University Rectors (CRUE, from the Spanish): THE COMMITMENT OF SPANISH UNIVERSITIES TO AFENDA 2030 (2018)

Service-Learning is known to intrinsically entail to contribute to the fulfillment of SDG 4 (Education) and 17 (Alliance). However, it is also necessary to underpin and deepen its contribution to all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This is the main purpose pursued by the X National and IV International Conference of University Service-Learning, that is:

What is the University Service-Learning doing to achieve the Agenda 2030?

Five years after the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development (2015) was approved by the UN, it is necessary to search for answers.

The university institutions are directly questioned by the SDG, and the University Service-Learning, which is also driven by them, is called upon to engage with them.

For this reason, the X National and IV International Conference University Service-Learning, intends to be an opportunity to analyze and reflect on what has been done, what is being done and where to address our efforts.

The current Conference is organized as its predecessors, where the concern and presence of the Agenda 2030 have already been glimpsed. While the VIII Conference held in Seville (2017) defined among other objectives "Bringing the University into line with the objectives of the Agenda 2030 adopted by the UN General Assembly”, the central objective posed in the IX Conference (Madrid 2018), was "Promoting Service-Learning as a tool of high pedagogical and social value that not only improves professional training, but contributes to the construction of a global citizenship”.

Considering these references two features that substantially condition the current edition are implied: on the one hand, understanding that the contextualization of the Agenda 2030, about sustainable development or about the construction of a committed citizenship, has already been overcome and, on the other hand, proposing the next step to be taken, favouring advancement and working efficiently on these challenges and demands of the global agenda.

Therefore, it is required that those who are conducting research on S-L, those who are implementing S-L, and those who are responsible for incorporating S-L into the university structure and policy, are called upon to analyse and reflect on what and how the achievement of S-L is being done in a significant and appropriate way.

Challenges

University Service-Learning X has been defined by two challenges since its inception: on the one hand, the ambition to fulfill one of the wishes expressed in the meetings of the Network, which refers to the need to try to make the conference a space where both the universities and the external agents with whom alliances are forged converge; and, on the other hand, to comply with the demand of coherence in the idealization, management and implementation of the conference with respect to meeting sustainability criteria.

Conference background

The Spanish national Conferences of University Service Learning started in 2010, thanks to the University Network of Service-Learning in Spain.

Nine national conferences, three international conferences and one European conference have now been held; the vocation to broaden and widen its scope, while opening it up to many more organizations and people aligned with University S-L, remains intact.

Following the consolidation of this event with five consecutive editions, and thanks to the efforts of its original promoters, in 2015, the 6th National Conference took a leap forward, by holding the 1st International Conference in Granada. This was followed by the 7th National and 2nd International Conference (Santiago de Compostela, 2016), and the 8th National and 3rd International Conference (Seville, 2017), and the 9th National and 1st European Conference (Madrid, 2018).

In 2017, an Association was set up in order to strengthen collaboration and the exchange of service-learning experiences, to disseminate education and social projects based on this methodology, and to promote both research and processes for institutionalizing this approach in Spanish universities

Europe Engage, the European Network of Service Learning within Higher Education, was set up in 2017 as an international network of European professionals interested in promoting S-L as an innovative teaching approach that has an impact on the development of committed European citizens.

More recently, the European Observatory of Service Learning project culminated in the creation of said observatory in early 2018.

Objectives

The aim of the Conference is to offer an encounter in which all those who work in the field of University Service Learning can share their experience and knowledge, thereby enabling Service Learning to continue to mature and become consolidated within the university system, as well as strengthening alliances with and between the participants, be they individuals, entities or organizations. In this case, in the framework of the global agenda, the national and international movements of University Service Learning is called upon to analyze and reflect on how it helps, or can help, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, said Goals underpin the objectives and thematic lines of the Conference that will be held from June 3rd-5th, 2020.

As such, the objectives of the Aps(U)10 Conference are as follows:

To promote and share research, experiences and processes by which Service Learning has been or can be institutionalized in an exercise of Social University Responsibility.
To analyze and reflect on the role that University Service Learning plays, or can play, in achieving the 2030 Agenda.
To make Service Learning initiatives more visible and enhance coparticipation therein, thanks to the presence at the conference of the widest possible range of actors involved in or allied with them.
To boost the presence of university students in this field either through dissertation work or placements.
To retrieve and ensure that due value is given to the historical Service Learning contributions relating to what we now know as the SDGs.
To hold the annual assemblies of the Network of University Service Learning and the University Association of Service Learning

Attendees

University lecturers and researchers who work in the field of Service Learning or who are interested in this methodology.
Those in charge of university institutions and Higher Education administrations who are interested in promoting citizen participation and university social responsibility.
Undergraduate and postgraduate students who are interested in this methodology.
Technical experts working in Third Sector organizations.
Policy-makers and technical experts working in Local Public Administrations.
University volunteers and/or volunteers in civil society and public organizations.

About the Conference

Presentation

Conference background

Objectives

Attendees

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