A campus culture characterized by sustainability and health
Active members of work package 8 from all nine EU GREEN member universities met for staff week at the Atlantic Technical University in Ireland. (Photo: private)
The staff week at the Atlantic Technical University in Ireland brought new ideas and plenty of motivation for the work in the EU GREEN university alliance for our employees Hanna Astafan, Ian Averkamp, Katrin Burgmann, Magnus Gottl and Juliane Vopel. Workshops, presentations, tours and discussions focused on a sustainable and healthy campus, the topic of EU GREEN work package 8. Active members of all nine EU GREEN member universities exchanged views on the current situation at their home universities and discussed opportunities for cooperation. They highlighted both successful initiatives and difficulties in project work. Katrin Burgmann experienced four days of intensive work, exchange and networking with many personal encounters. Ines Perl spoke to her about her impressions.
You spent a staff week at the Atlantic Technical University in Ireland. What brought you to Ireland?
My involvement in the EU GREEN university alliance, of which OVGU is a member. Since February 2023, I have been volunteering in work package 8 on designing a sustainable and liveable campus. We had a working group meeting at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) in Ireland, which is one of our partners in EU GREEN.
Let's take another step back: what is a work package and what does work package 8 deal with?
EU GREEN links the topics of teaching, research, campus life, diversity and sustainability in 9 work packages. Work package 8, entitled "Building a truly sustainable campus", essentially pursues 5 objectives. The first is to develop an EU-GREEN campus identity and to positively influence the 17 UN sustainability goals through changes in behavior. The commitment of university members and citizens in the region to ecological and civil society challenges is also to be promoted. The goals also include creating conditions for personal growth and community collaboration for sustainability, as well as creating a sense of belonging among students and staff. Last but not least, healthy, inclusive, sustainable and humane workplaces are a goal.
The EU GREEN work packages (Graphic: Astrid Sauer)
Who can contribute to the work packages?
Every employee and student can get involved. EU GREEN thrives on cooperation, on the experience and skills of everyone involved in the project. We meet once a month in digital meetings with the project partners from the 8 other EU GREEN universities. At the meetings, we discuss tasks that are to be carried out locally at the universities and jointly within the university alliance. So far, we are still in the planning and development phase for the various working groups that will implement the measures discussed in the future.
Then, for example, there are the "staff weeks" at one of the project partners.
Like the meeting in Ireland?
Yes, almost 40 project participants from the University Alliance who are involved in work package 8 met there. These were employees, teachers and students from Spain, Sweden, Italy, Poland, France, Portugal, Romania, Ireland and us from Germany.
What challenges did you experience in connection with your trip?
Firstly, the organization of the trip was challenging. I had never been to Ireland before. But the ATU team helped us a lot, finding suitable hotels and bus connections and sending a bus to pick us up at the airport.
On the other hand, planning my regular work tasks in the Media, Communication and Marketing department at OVGU during the time I was away was challenging. I was often answering emails in the evenings. I'm involved with EU GREEN alongside my actual job.
What was the business language and how did you get on with it?
English was the business language and communication worked very well. On the very first day, all delegations were given a small EU flag. Anyone who didn't understand something was allowed to wave it - that was a great idea. During a presentation by an Irish contact person, all the EU flags were waving: she simply spoke far too quickly.
What did you and the other staff week participants focus on during your meeting in Ireland?
Before the staff week, each university wrote an action plan outlining the local conditions and challenges for designing a sustainable campus. In joint workshops, we discussed the differences and compiled measures on how to meet the challenges. For the most part, this was done in the traditional way with pinboards and flipcharts. I thought it was great that a graphic designer created a picture with the workshop content during one of the workshops. That was a completely different way of summarizing the content.
On site, we were shown what offers and projects there are in the area of health management for employees and students at ATU. These contribute significantly to a liveable campus. At the Organic Center, a sustainable agricultural business, we found out how it has an impact on the local community.
Visit to the Organic Center, a sustainable farm. (Photo: private)
Were there opportunities to network with colleagues from other institutions?
During the entire staff week, there was a very friendly and collegial atmosphere and there were opportunities to exchange contact details during the workshops or on joint excursions and meals. Now I have direct contacts, I know the person and not just the name, I know who I can call and who deals with which topic.
What do you take away from the meeting for your daily work, or in general?
Looking beyond the boundaries of my day-to-day work. I got to know new people and learned how they approach tasks.
I was able to practise my language skills in an international environment, which will certainly be very helpful in future when dealing with international students.
And I was very impressed by how hospitable our hosts were and I am absolutely thrilled by how beautiful Ireland is!
The "staff week" was a prelude - what's next?
In preparation for the staff week in Ireland, a small working group was formed at OVGU, which is now continuing to work together.We will continue to meet regularly in the future and discuss the next steps. At the moment, we are developing ideas for a sustainable and liveable campus in order to derive concrete measures from them. The best way to do this is with as many members of the university community as possible: a World Café on campus design will be held on April 17. Our working group will be involved there. All interested members of the university are cordially invited to join us in gathering ideas for the sustainable design of a liveable campus.
Thank you for talking to us.
About EU GREEN
EU GREEN is one of 51 existing university alliances involving around 430 higher education institutions from 35 countries across Europe. In 2023, the EU selected 23 existing European University Alliances from 65 applications for further funding, and 7 new alliances with up to ten new universities each were added.In the current selection, German universities are the frontrunners across Europe with 29 participations. University alliances such as EU GREEN are partnerships that are intended to be a model for "universities of the future". Those institutions that participate in partnerships will have priority access to funding for strategic projects in the future. (as of 11/2023)