In May 2022 a number of parallel workshops were successfully run in Ghent, Belgium relating to ICA-EDU, the Bioeconomy COP and the Entrepreneurship SIG. Conversations between the 3 groups suggest that there would be considerable benefit from running a more integrated workshop this year which focussed broadly on the student engagement challenge that is facing Universities across Europe, but that allowed participants to focus for a significant part of the meeting on their own specific interests, these being engaging students in University education and life, engaging students with the bioeconomy industry and engaging students in entrepreneurial education. It is key that students themselves are represented and involved throughout the 3-day meeting and that the overall meeting as a strong interactive workshop theme.
The programme will start at lunchtime on Wednesday 26 April and finish at lunchtime on the Friday 28 April. This will allow delegates to apply to their own university for funding under the EU Erasmus+ Staff Mobility scheme – read more details here.
Workshop format
The three Workshops will run in parallel. However, the three workshops share a common plenary session at the start of the event on the Wednesday afternoon. On the Thursday and the first part of the Friday morning there will be three sessions running in parallel, one for each of the workshop programmes. The three workshops will come together again on the final part of the Friday morning to share the outcomes of their discussions in the parallel sessions.
Overview of the three Workshops:
1) ICA Network for Innovation in Life Sciences Higher Education (ICA-Edu)
Workshop Title: The Student Engagement Challenge
The nature of learning is changing with a greater emphasis on blended approaches and flexible learning paths. Students themselves have changing expectations about how, when and where they learn and the types of extra-curricular activities they are interested in and willing to engage with.
See here the key objectives and the full ICA-Edu Workshop Programme
2) ICA Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education in Europe (ICA-CoP Bio-Edu)
Workshop Title: Engaging with industry to ensure that graduates and professionals are well prepared for employment in the Bioeconomy.
Educators and employers are experiencing a gap between the competences of graduates and what is needed by the employer in the bioeconomy. Although it is not possible to prepare students for specific jobs, it should be possible for universities with the support of industry to prepare students more effectively for their future careers in the bioeconomy.
See here the key objectives and the full ICA-CoP Bio-Edu Workshop programme
3) ICA-Edu Special Interest Group (SIG) for Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education
Workshop Title: Embedding student challenges and competitions in sustainable entrepreneurship education
This ICA-SIG Workshop will focus on the role of student challenges and competitions as catalysts for entrepreneurial learning and student engagement within life science universities.