Dogodek je potekal v angleščini.

Service-Learning (SL) in higher education offers an integrative response to the complex challenges facing universities and society today. Positioned at the intersection of teaching, research, and social responsibility, SL provides a pedagogical pathway for aligning academic learning with real community needs while contributing to sustainable development goals. Through structured collaboration between universities and social actors, SL enables students to engage in experiential learning, reflective practice and civic responsibility, fostering competencies relevant to rapidly changing professional and environmental contexts.

The course examines SL as an opportunity for both faculty and students to develop professionally through praxis. For academic staff, SL creates a space to redesign teaching methods, implement active and problem-posing pedagogies, establish partnerships with external entities, and generate applied knowledge. These elements position SL as a powerful mechanism for meaningful learning throughout the curriculum.

The course also explores SL as a strategic approach for universities to strengthen their connection with their social environment. At a time marked by climate change, demographic shifts, inequality, and the need for inclusive and resilient communities, universities are increasingly expected to collaborate with public institutions, NGOs, local governments, and civil society. SL fosters reciprocal partnerships that move beyond internships or voluntary action by integrating co-design, co-responsibility and mutual benefit.

A further dimension addressed in the course is the institutional, cultural and organisational impact of SL. Implementing SL requires shared values, enabling structures, and recognition of the invisible work involved in sustaining partnerships. Systemic perspectives, such as institutional metabolism, relationship networks, alliances and regenerative capacities, help understand how SL strengthens the health and resilience of the university as a whole. Policies, ethical frameworks, support units, and reflective spaces are needed to ensure sustainable and equitable collaboration with communities.

By the end of the course, participants will have explored SL not only as an instructional strategy but as a transformative approach aligned with eco-social sustainability, democratic participation, and professional development. The course combines theoretical inputs, case studies, reflective dialogue, and practical project mapping to connect SL with curricular innovation, academic career development, and long-term collaborative work with the students & social environment.