Synergies between projects within the Erasmus + Knowledge Alliances programme open up opportunities for community-building and sharing experiences.

On Thursday, 15 February 2018, PEOPLE representatives were invited to join the WEXHE project team in their project consortium meeting that took place at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana. Following a couple of initial discussions and meetings between WEXHE and PEOPLE and realising that there was a shared interest and common goals, we decided to further explore the opportunities for sharing experiences and strengthening cooperation between the two Erasmus+ projects.

PEOPLE and WEXHE finding synergies

Like PEOPLE, WEXHE is an Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance Project. The project’s focus is on supporting the development of work-based learning relating to higher education internships/work placements, traineeships and entrepreneurship. The project also addresses the mismatches between the skills sets of graduates and the skills they require during early careers.

At the same time, this is one of the core issues that the PEOPLE project responds to: through our Learning Cycles and individual case-studies, we are engaging students in interdisciplinary, industry-relevant, work-based learning processes. These are ultimately equipping students with a new set of skills. The learning is not only taking place on the side of the students, however. The experience is immensely valuable in terms of teaching practices and developing higher education curricula. Our case-studies are also demonstrating the strengths and value of social sciences and humanities methods (e.g. ethnography) and people-centred development approaches for energy and sustainable living industries.

Sharing experiences, planning activities

At WEXHE project’s consortium meeting, Gregor Cerinšek (IRI UL, project coordinator) and Sara Arko (Metronik, project industry partner) presented the PEOPLE project’s aims, goals, and approach. Together with the WEXHE team, they discussed the importance of work- or project-based learning, in particular for the social sciences and humanities students. As the PEOPLE project is demonstrating, students of anthropology, sociology, or psychology bring valuable perspectives and relevant insights to projects dealing with energy issues or developing new technologies. The two teams also discussed the challenging but rewarding experience of university-business cooperation.

We appreciate and value the feedback in these initial discussions. We are also excited that the two projects will continue to share experiences and results and are looking forward to plan for the next opportunity to do so.