Ten institutions of higher education from the Nordplus Higher Education network together with six municipalities from the Nordic countries are partners in the project ‘Students as change agents in grand societal challenges’.

The project is focused on the Experts in Teams (EIT) method, where students work in interdisciplinary project teams dealing with real-life and complex challenges, the so called ‘wicked problems’.

In this project special focus is put on the common Nordic demographic challenge with a larger and larger proportion of elderly people in the population. This means fewer people in the workforce and more people with the need for assistance. New knowledge and technological development can potentially contribute to solutions, but to realize this potential a change in both education and work processes in the municipalities toward more interdisciplinary teamwork is needed.

In this project we want to design joint Nordic educational activities, where students through teamwork across geographical borders, subject areas and institutions make contributions to solve chosen societal challenges.

The municipalities will elaborate on the challenges and assist in qualifying the solutions.

The educational institutions together cover many different faculties and have a high degree of experience with the Experts in Teams method and project-based learning.

Fulltime students from academy profession, bachelor and master programmes at the participating educational institutions.

• Experience with interdisciplinary team collaboration and innovation in an intercultural context

• Gain thorough insight into current, local social challenges defined by 5 municipalities in Norway, Sweden and Denmark as well as input from various key-note speakers/futurists ·      Work with actual societal challenges so that they can be translated into your own subject area in a local context and possible future internships or jobs.

• Based on your own working style and professional expertise, focus on reflection on your own practice and facilitation

• Collaboration with students at bachelor’s and master’s level from 8 different Scandinavian educational institutions

(after completion of the course the student should be able to):

• explore complex societal challenges

• select an appropriate method to apply in the ideation process

• work in interprofessional Nordic teams and collaborate with stakeholders

• identify ethical aspects and discuss and assess their consequences in relation to specific problems

• communicate and convey information, problems, methods, and design/development processes, both orally and in writing

Scandinavian

Erasmus+ – Blended Intensive Programme or other relevant grants.

Students get 3 ECTS points for completing the course.

Online meeting + preparation: May/June 2025

Challenge workshop at Chalmers tekniske Högskole i Göteborg:  23 – 27 June 2025.

Possibilities for follow-up activities (extra ECTS-points): will be announced by local project partners.