Great societal challenges

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.