The SEVERE project aims to develop a transnational programme for nurturing entrepreneurial mind-sets and skills in order to encourage active citizenship and social entrepreneurship. At the same time, it will seek to reflect a completely new approach to working life born out of the COVID-19 crisis – as well as the Climate Emergency - and increasing demands for more sustainable forms of international collaboration, as well as a transformation in the way societies tackle these challenges. It reflects the increasing importance of civic society and the social innovation ecosystem and the role that universities can play in nurturing social entrepreneurs, supporting social enterprises and creating new opportunities for collaboration. SEVERE will meet a number of specific objectives: 1.develop a deeper awareness within universities in order to prepare their students for direct community action through digital means;2.create a suite of online tools housed within a virtual collaboration space that will help students but also social enterprises to collaborate and create joint ventures remotely;3.validate the tools by incubating 12 social innovation projects with partners in six different countries;4.establish a platform for virtual internships whereby students will be able to work remotely for social enterprises and community groups on specific projects;5.create and promote a SEVERE network open to promote digital social innovation.The project is coordinated by Glasgow Caledonian University which has several years’ experience coordinating projects under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships as well as CBHE and Knowledge Alliances Programmes, specialising in the field of Social Innovation. The project partners all have a range of specialist experience in areas relating to the field: the University of Aveiro, specialising in design thinking and social innovation; Dublin City University specialising in student entrepreneurship and ideation; Servizi Didattici e Scientifici per l Universita Di Firenze, specialising in social enterprise support and the related ecosystem; Universidad Pompeu Fabra, specialising in service learning and microcredit; Montpelier Business School, specialising in responsible finance and social innovation.By the end of the project the following impact will have been made:Participants-They will become more aware of the needs of their communities and develop skills for active civic engagement and entrepreneurship;-They will be able to increase their employability both specifically in the area of social enterprise and community engagement (which has become increasingly important in the aftermath of covid-19) but also in other areas which seek individuals with well-rounded and altruistic personalities.-Improve their digital skills and specific skills for remote working and virtual collaboration which are now so prevalent and increasingly essential post covid-19 but also with the growing climate emergency which demands a more responsible approach to transnational cooperation. Participating organisations -Greater capacity for incubating student ideas, potentially transnationally but also virtually.-Greater employability of students-Closer relationship with their communities and the social innovation ecosystem-A greater understanding of the potential and limits of remote working and a more relevant approach to higher education that recognise digital social innovation as a key tool for socioeconomic impact.These impacts will be transferable to other institutions outside the consortium. Target Groups and other relevant stakeholders-More suitably-skilled workforce to enrich the social innovation ecosystem; -Access to more tools for remote working and digital social innovation;-improved health and well-being; -more sustainable environment; -more cohesive and equitable society.

DiasporaLink is a 4-year exchange program between 24 universities and research institutes representing EU, the Americas, Africa and Australia and will investigate, evaluate and facilitate transnational diaspora entrepreneurship, TDE as driver of development and wealth creation in countries of origin and residence. • The partners in DiasporaLink have together a unique possibility to have a substantial impact on a global, European and national level targeting different groups and stakeholders: • The international research community • Institutions and policy makers in the social, economic and development field • Diaspora organizations and communities • Media and press This is underlined by the specific network of the partners • GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor • IMISCOE International Migration, Integration, Social Cohesion • International Council for Small Businesses • Swedish TDE network Core tasks are: • Structure research on diaspora cross-border entrepreneurship in migration corridors • Create awareness among policy and decision makers of the potential of TDE through publications and a web-site • Build a IT-curricula for transnational entrepreneurship within and outside the universities • Build an ICT-platform for internal communication and for transnational team building The exchange of staff is built around research in common WP’s and around regular and touring workshops both internal and external. The objective is to create a global, extended university network with the mission to monitor the entrepreneurship in migration corridors, define obstacles and support the corridor stakeholders with information and tuition. Essential is close contacts with diaspora entrepreneurs and diaspora organizations are systematically approached through workshops and media, for involving diaspora organizations as active partners.

<< Objectives >>Despite the growing relevance of sustainability accounting for the transition to a green EU economy, sustainability accounting is not yet effectively covered in accounting and business university curricula. The project aims to address this gap by developing an open and interactive sustainability accounting learning platform to promote the integration of this topic into accounting and business graduate programs in the EU and support the green transition of the EU economy.<< Implementation >>In addition to the design and development of the Sustainability Accounting Learning Platform for a Green Economy, the project will organise a set of teaching and sharing & promotion activities with students, accounting lecturers and professionals to promote sustainability accounting education, foster the digitalization of education, increase sustainability awareness and encourage the use of the platform in graduate degrees and professional training.<< Results >>The project will produce three results that jointly contribute to improving sustainability accounting education and supporting the green transition of EU Economy:1. A set of learning materials and resources structured in three modules covering key aspects of sustainability accounting.2. An interactive and dynamic online learning platform on sustainability accounting.3. Engagement with accounting lecturers and professionals to disseminate the sustainability accounting online learning platform.

During the second semester of the academic year 2019-2020, almost all EU universities moved to online teaching, to ensure continuity of education during the lockdown and to apply safety measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort to provide quality online learning has been remarkable, in terms of infrastructural investment, teacher training, re-design of courses and revision of admin procedures, to meet the needs of online students also in mostly F2F-based universities. Within this process, among several issues due to the emergency situation forcing institutions to find alternative solutions in a very short time-frame, work-based learning was one of the most critical points. Work-based learning is widely acknowledged as a fundamental part of the students’ journey toward professionalization, as it allows the learner to gain experience in real work settings, deploy there his/her knowledge and skills, assess them, and better design career development strategies for employability purposes. During the pandemic emergency, most companies continued their activity through remote working, or by applying mixed arrangements, e.g. alternating days in the office with remote work. Instead, many universities found it difficult to arrange procedures, tutoring, guidance and even internship places for their students.ON-IT intends therefore to focus on the development of guidelines and resources to design and implement meaningful remote internships in higher education. Starting from both a mapping of experiences from EU institutions, that has been done informally during the pandemic within university networks, and a review of present guidelines for a quality internship, the consortium will work on drafting and testing of remote work-based learning pathways. The outputs will seek to cover the overall system that allows work-based learning, including advice on admin procedures: whereby remote internships could be known and used in some subject-fields (e.g. computer science), many institutions yet organise only or mostly F2F internships, and remote internships require different procedures and tools also from ad administrative point of view. Together with guidance tools, tutorials and guidelines for teachers, tutors (of both sending/receiving institutions), other university staff, and of course students, the project also intends to develop learning materials for all the involved targets. Learning materials will be addressed to work-based learning and employability. Online work requires different skills than working in a physical place. Regardless of the duration of the present pandemic, it is likely the pandemic experience will change the regular way of working in all economic fields, at least for many graduate jobs. For this reason, the project aims to focus also on skills development for remote working, to provide students with further employability skills to increase their professional success in a labour market shaped by digital transformation.As piloting action, ON-IT focuses on the tourism field and aims at providing outputs easily transferrable to all fields.