Project Objectives and Innovative character 1. Rationale and Background of the project
Islands
are a special kind of spatial entities, laden with many symbols with a
prominent place in collective imagination. They are material and geophysical
spaces but also objects “of the mind”, with heavy layers of myth, metaphor
and representation. Islands in the European Union (EU) and around the world
are recognized as one of the three types of territories which face
particular development challenges (the others are mountain and sparsely
populated regions in the EU).
European
islands are very diverse, in terms of size, topography, remoteness and
economic development with many small or very small islands and some big or
very big ones. However, they share the challenges posed by the island
condition, and which is itself compounded by smallness of land area and
population. Such a condition typically implies fragmented and isolated
markets and limited natural resources, less competitive transportation
networks, higher prices for goods/services, and fragmented infrastructural
provisions: public administration, compulsory education, health care,
energy, water supply, waste treatment, among other services, have to be
provided to each island separately.
Besides
these ‘objective’ and measurable characteristics, the island condition
expresses a non-measurable but distinctive “experiential identity”. Islands
are spaces which are shaped by but also which shape the experiences of the
people who live there, whether these are local inhabitants who have been
there all their lives, returning islanders, visiting mainlanders, members of
the island diaspora, or retirees from other countries. Finally, within
islands there is also a conceived or representational reality arising from
their place in myth, folklore, literature, and history as places of escape,
allure, paradise and refuge.
Sustainability and sustainable development are notions that are widely used
today in areas of research, policies, monitoring and planning. The two
notions are used in different contexts. In the European Union (EU),
sustainable development aims to achieve economic prosperity, social equity
and cohesion and environmental protection and is considered as an
over-arching principle in all EU policies. Sustainability can be considered
as the state and potential of an area for achieving sustainable development.
Islands,
small islands in particular, are particularly well suited for the discussion
and implementation of sustainability, since they are natural laboratories
with well defined boundaries and easily monitored inputs and outputs. They
are at the same time especially vulnerable to exogenous factors, such as
climate and environmental change. The short teaching program with a strong
group work component will bring together people from different countries and
different disciplines and can emphasize such issues from different
standpoints, highlighting diverse aspects and strategies for implementing
sustainable strategies and practices. Moreover, it is a unique opportunity
for island-based institutions to exchange ideas, knowledge and practices
with similar, island-based universities, compare strategies and solutions to
common problems. This is expected to enhance the European impact of the
Intensive Programme.
The proposed IP INSUS “Insularity and Sustainability –
context and case studies of different
The area of the field study is
Build
heritage on islands: issues of preservation
Effective
niche manufacturing from small islands.
Energy and
sustainability: the challenge of renewable energy on islands
Land
biodiversity conservation and management
Planning
and management of sustainable and “alternative” tourism.
Sustainable agriculture and food security on islands
Sustainable fishing and conservation of marine resources on islands Terrestrial Ecology on islands 2. The specific objectives of the IP are: -
to provide education
and training on islandness and sustainability to students of diverse
scientific and national backgrounds that study in insular Universities; -
to discuss and
compare selected examples of sustainable practices on various issues that
impact islands around the world;
-
to provide
stimulating group work in small mixed groups under the close supervision of
the teaching staff;
-
to allow students
to confront their own different academic perspectives on insularity and
sustainability -
to form the basis
for a closer cooperation between the participating institutions with a goal
of developing common postgraduate programmes in the future on island
sustainability.
Regarding
the existing teaching programmes of the participating institutions, the IP
will be supported from and form an integral part of the programs of all
participating Institutions.
For the Department of Geography (
For the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria it
will form part of a special module “Sustainability Issues and Biodiversity
in
For the department of Physics (
The
The IP provides a practical, field experience that
combines multidisciplinary perspectives within the common unifying themes of
sustainability and insularity. All disciplines involved are seldom taught in
an integrated manner in the field, or in a way that brings together
expertise and students from across
This is
the reason why this IP is envisioned as the foundation stone of a common
Masters’ programme on islandness and sustainability in the future inside the
ERASMUS MUNDUS initiative. Methodology
1.
Regarding the main pedagogical and didactical approaches and concepts that
will be used, the essential feature of the IP is that it is a group working
and project-oriented experience. Students are introduced with lectures into
the context of the themes, insularity and sustainability, successful
examples in selected fields are presented to them from sustainable practices
on islands and they work in small groups on a specific issue, preparing and
presenting a small multidisciplinary project under the supervision of an
experienced staff member. Within this framework, field work, groups work,
class lectures and independent reading and study will all form part of the
pedagogic experience. The course is structured around small-group projects,
each tutored by different members of the staff. Students will be introduced
to the projects in the first day of the IP and will be provided with a
dossier with any required relevant information. During the field course,
they will receive training on the design of field work, gathering of field
and associated data, and final data analysis. Much emphasis will be placed
on discussion within groups but also among all participants in the final
presentations.
2. The
direct beneficiaries of the IP will be undergraduate students near the end
of their programmes, or postgraduate students, selected by each
participating Universities on the basis of their academic achievements to
date within their degree programmes and taking into consideration their
English language ability.
3. The planned ratio of teaching staff to students in
the intensive programme will be 1 to 7. This low ratio is the cornerstone of
the IP and will enhance
the direct results of the group work. Each of
the teaching staff will provide lectures and supervise a small (7 people)
mixed international group that will work on a specific topic. Teaching staff
will assist the groups with their projects and assess their quality in the
end of the IP.
4. For the
use of ICT tools, materials will be disseminated electronically before
commencement, and students will be encouraged to utilise ICT in their
researches both to communicate with fellow students, and their teachers, and
to aid in the preparation of their reports. Moreover, ICT will also be used
for map making and mapping pressures and other outcomes of the IP. Also, the
individual assessment of students will be web based with standard multiple
choice tests with questions provided by the teaching staff based on the
lectures and the material provided by them.
5.
Regarding the assessment of student achievement in the IP and the intended
learning outcomes, the individual assessment of each student will be based
upon two different types of assessment:
(a)
individual assessment of students will be web based with standard multiple
choice tests with questions provided by the teaching staff based on the
lectures and the material provided by them and will cover 30% of the overall
final grade;
(b) group
projects (presentation and the final group paper) will also be assessed by
the supervisor of each group and will cover: (i) paper 50% of the overall
final grade and (ii) presentation 20% of the overall final grade.
6.
Academic recognition differs for each partner institution:
The University of the
The
The
University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, will allocate 4 ECTS credits to
each student who passes the assessments for the IP.
The |