Joined For Sustainability

The 1FUTURE project aims to to improve regional capacities in implementing Green Deal goals within higher education system. The 1Future project builds up on the needs and the ambition to lead climate action in HEIs in the WB Region. Within the project, HEIs of the region will serve as the gear that connects different stakeholders for building climate resilient communities.

Erasmus + Program

The Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) action supports international cooperation projects based on multilateral partnerships between organisations active in the field of higher education. It will support a successful green and sustainable global economic recovery in the third countries not associated to the Erasmus+ programme, linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

Leading Partner

The University of Tirana is the largest university in the country. It consists of six faculties and two institutes and offers 174 programs in all three cycles of study, with 779 full-time academic staff and approximately 28,550 students. Thanks to its tradition, high level of qualification, training and certification, the University of Tirana remains the most sought after university in Albania.

Successful completion of WP2

Posted on July 31, 2024

Important updates from the 1FUTURE Project! The development of the Plans for Climate Action in 6 WBC HEIs partners in the project is completed. The Plans development represents the completion of Working Package 2. 

WP2 represented the first phase of the project, when activities related to the increase of capacities between WBC partners were planned. WP2 served as a starting point for developing all other WPs. All partners were engaged in this WP. Their activities and responsibilities were divided in 4 tasks:

  • Task 2.1: Analysis of state of art of practices within EU and Third Countries associated with EU for fostering climate initiatives and collaboration with government, business and academia. This task required conducting research, summarizing and reporting on the nature and categories of climate and sustainability actions in Western Europe Universities, classifying them into action related to curriculum development; action related to collaboration between different stakeholders; action related to activities organized at university level; action related to research capacities and research focus and actions related to university services.
  • Task 2.2: Identifying gaps between climate and sustainability action in EU and the Balkans. This task included the comparison between the results of the needs analysis performed before the project implementation and the results of T2.1. Through this task, the project team identified gaps between sustainability action implemented in Western Europe and Balkans HEIs and analyse reasons between these differences (legal, logistical, cultural, and economic).
  • Task 2.4: Conduct surveys and interviews with public and private institutions, business communities and other stakeholders. Questionnaires were prepared by teams in the WB countries and reviewed by EU HEIs. Two types of data collection methods were used: interviews with public institutions representatives and questionnaire for business sector. The aim of the questionnaire for the business sector was to identify business attitude toward collaboration for achieving sustainability goals and business needs in terms of capacities and knowledge in the areas of climate action and sustainability. Business Associations in each WBC prepared contact details of the target group of companies and forward details of survey. The teams in each WBC engaged in interviewing public institutions representatives, to disseminate about the project aim and expected outcomes, and to define their willingness to engage in the collaboration platforms developed within the project.
  • Task 2.5: Identifying opportunities and risks associated with undertaking climate projects and actions within and between academia, business sector and government. After reviewing the gaps and synergies between climate action in EU and WBC, each WBC HEI developed an action plan for implementing a climate agenda in the future in WBC HEIs.

These tasks served to achieve the following goals:

  • Identifying the full disparencies in climate action between EU and WBC Universities;
  • Analyzing further why the education system in the Balkans have not yet been responsive towards the needs and requests for climate action;
  • Discussing steps and progressive action towards filling the gap between climate action implemented in EU and WB HEIs.

The final goal was to draft and develop the Plan for Climate Action in each WBC HEIs. The approval of the plan represents the first milestone of the project: Endorsement of willingness to implement Climate and Sustainability action in WB HEIs.

Please find below the Plans developed by each institution. Congratulations to all partners who have been working on this important deliverable for over one year!

Hits: 27