A Social Work and Social Ecology summer school started this week at PTE for EDUC students

German, Czech, Italian and French students, as well as students from the University of Pécs (PTE), are participating in a course on the culture of ecological responsibility this week, organized by the University of Pécs for the students in the European Digital UniverCity (EDUC) alliance. Thirty students from the six EDUC member universities have enrolled in the hybrid programme, which started with online classes in April, followed by an in-person community garden building program in Pécs this week.

One of the objectives of the EDUC alliance is to provide high-quality, short-cycle blended learning programs for its students. The University of Pécs is the first to offer this type of opportunity. Member universities could each nominate five students, and the program was so popular that some universities had 70 students apply.

In April, students took part in online classes to learn about the basics of social ecology theory. This week, the participants are meeting face-to-face in Pécs for a week-long summer school and building a community garden together with local NGOs. The academic program is provided by the Department of Community and Social Studies, as well as the Department of Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, while the overall organisation is carried out by the International Centre. The training is taking place at the Green Spot Community Garden in Pécs. Participants are also engaging in landscaping, gardening and outreach activities with local disadvantaged children at the ÉlményTár Tanoda.

After the lessons and activities, students will enjoy some exciting social programs led by Hungarian mentor students.

The International Centre launched the highly successful Pécs Summer School initiative in 2015, followed by the Pécs Winter School in 2020. Over the past years, the number of short-term programmes (in-person and virtual) has increased significantly, making the University of Pécs a market leader among Hungarian higher education institutions in this field.

The European Digital UniverCity (EDUC) is one of the first European university alliances to be funded by the European Commission. The member universities include the University of Potsdam (Germany), University of Cagliari (Italy), Masaryk University (Czech Republic), University of Rennes (France), University Paris Nanterre (France) and the University of Pécs (Hungary). One of the aims of the organisation is to enable member universities to collaborate and offer a range of virtual and face-to-face mobility programmes for the association's 160,000 students and 20,000 lecturers.