The Student Hub (SH) is an initiative developed by the University of Coimbra (UC) to transform and recreate an all-inclusive learning space built in a sustainable way. Focused on the quality, efficiency, and transparency of our mission, the aim of SH is to support UC’s academic community activities, guide students in their academic path and outreach, as well as foster civic intervention and social impact.
Regional
Portugal
6 Regions of Portugal: Coimbra, Viseu Dão Lafões, West, Beiras e Serra da Estrela, Beira Baixa and Middle Tejo (more than 100 municipalities).
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2021-10-13
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): University of Coimbra Type of organisation: University or another research institution First name of representative: José Last name of representative: Dias Gender: Male Nationality: Portugal Function: Student Hub Coordinator Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Polo I - Edifício Central, Rua Larga Town: Coimbra Postal code: 3004-504 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 916 750 842 E-mail:jose.dias@uc.pt Website:https://www.uc.pt/studenthub/
The Student Hub (SH) is an initiative developed by the University of Coimbra (UC) to transform and recreate an all-inclusive learning space built in a sustainable way. Focused on the quality, efficiency, and transparency of our mission, the aim of SH is to support UC’s academic community activities, guide students in their academic path and outreach, as well as foster civic intervention and social impact.
SH materializes a new relational and functional paradigm based on the understanding that the true potential of each person, and the knowledge they carry, is evidenced and enhanced through beautiful spaces for experimentation and shared inspiration. SH not only embodies a new way of providing academic services, in an integrated and sustainable way, but it is also a place for interaction and mediation - between peers, with the community, schools, organizations and the job market.
Deeply rooted in the essential UC values of public service and respect for people, SH is designed to be in permanent co-construction of disruptive civic/territorial bonding projects and initiatives with social impact. It is essentially a "hackable space" (i.e. spaces that encourage change and creativity), inspiring the connection between students, teachers, trainees, citizens, and territories. SH is also a place of social and pedagogical innovation: it houses the Design Thinking Lab and the Academy of Creators, promoting transdisciplinary activities to respond to societal and economic challenges (with an Open Consultation Platform), and as well as the UCTransform, a platform for the aggregation and dissemination of volunteer and social innovation offers.
Thus, the SH project aims to transform old spaces into beautiful ones, obsolete spaces in incubators of inclusive ideas and spaces without use in hub’s that promote sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Inclusiveness
Sustainability
Transformation of old and obsolete spaces into beautiful ones
Pedagogical Innovation
Social Innovation
In SH, student services were grouped and relocated into a unique and central space repurposed for students’ academic affairs. The modernization of this central space, a 1960’s heritage building, required a rigorous requalification program which employed natural materials (wood and cork), recycled and reused historic furniture, and proper technology.
SH space also conveys an image of innovation, efficiency and comfort. The available digital tools contribute to the efficiency of service responses (pre-booking of service by QR code) and to the dematerialization of procedures and paper savings.
This transformation continued into the rooms and theaters that circle this central space, which are available for student initiatives, and support offices with improved working conditions, and privacy for student affairs that require discretion.
SH design and decoration also places inclusiveness at the center: the accessibility for students with special needs, a master wall devoted to the SDG in 17 different languages, and the provision of clear and accessible information.
In this new location for students, teachers, collaborators, researchers, candidates and graduates of the UC, the various dimensions of social, economic, ecological, and of axiological sustainability are shaped, anchored in the axes of interaction, societal impact, knowledge, and culture, citizenship, mitigation of climate impacts and, above all, community co-building.
SH materializes a new relational and functional paradigm based on the understanding that the true potential of each person, and the knowledge they carry, is evidenced and enhanced through beautiful spaces for experimentation and shared inspiration. SH not only embodies a new way of providing academic services, in an integrated and sustainable way, but it is also a place for interaction and mediation - between peers, with the community, schools, organizations and the job market.
A new functional and relational space was rebuilt, renovating the former Faculty of Medicine, a 1960’s building listed as a World Heritage Site in 2013. Inside, students can find all the services that were scattered around campus, such as academic, international relations, social support, employment, and municipality services, but also new venues designed for interaction, mediation, citizen-science, and creativity. SH is more than a project for the sustainable transformation of an historical space, it is a new learning environment that promotes knowledge exchange with various stakeholders; and, a new way of conceiving education: holistic, continuous, and committed. It has also become a pleasant and beautiful place that ties tradition, innovation, and sustainability.
Engaged with the values of humanism, inclusiveness, efficiency, quality, transparency, collaboration, sustainability and innovation, SH is mainly framed by the will of a 732 years old university, a living museum, to continuously transform itself without losing its identity.
Thus, the SH project aims to transform old spaces into beautiful ones, obsolete spaces in incubators of inclusive ideas and spaces without use in hub’s that promote sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals.
At SH, the approach to a student-centered management of curricula is essential. Participation in hands-on projects, microcredits, and engagement in extracurricular activities are recognized as part of each student's academic path.
Moreover, SH promotes initiatives intended to generate talent, promote complex thinking, and connect communities with members of the academy. Students from different study cycles and scientific fields, teachers, and researchers collaborate in hands-on projects outside the classroom. Members of the university and stakeholders from the social and enterprise fields engage. Different generations are also invited to university challenges, as for instance, the UC Challenges for Global Sustainability for pre-university and university students, and the Software Academy, or the Teachers Training Academy for the long-life learning of adults.
These initiatives are the focus of the learning experience in the SH spaces. As theoretical and field-specific knowledge are covered by class attendance, other soft and hard-skills missing from the curricula may be developed in social impact projects, or by the inter communication with other areas in and outside the university.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide the foundations for this osmotic learning and development framework, acting as starting line for all projects and compass for implementation.
SH cultivates the connection with the local environment and community in three main approaches. First, in our UC Ambassadors Programme, there is direct contact between UC students and their former high schools to create small support groups to motivate high schoolers to continue their studies.
The second is the promotion of social impact projects with the Entrepreneurial, Sustainability and Innovation Academy with various local or regional communities.
Lastly, SH promotes partnerships with civil society organizations in politics, national or regional entities, and social affairs. The openness of the UC to different territories outside the region of Coimbra is a strategic goal for our place-responsive university. This orientation enables the development of citizen-driven research and the implementation of the UC's mission in response to societal challenges. SH creates co-working spaces, design in situ training, stakeholder forums, and needs assessment (Creators Academy), as well as feedback initiatives and public presentation of research results relevant to the context, research-action, open citizen accountability, and design of solutions and scalable models (Design Thinking Lab; UC Social Project).
For the establishment of these connections, the academic community can be supported by the by services gathered within the SH venue, such as the International Relations Division, Immigration and Border Service, the Academic Affairs and Coimbra Municipality.
For the physical establishment of SH we promoted partnerships with: Coimbra Students' Association, International Relations Division, Immigration and Border Service, the Academic Affairs, Social Services, Employability Services, and Coimbra Municipality. But this projet goes beyond the infrastructure.
The strategic vision underlying the SH project calls for the development of a set of quite different objectives, recipients, and action processes. Specific goals of the project and its strategic vision: a) articulation with territories with different characteristics (including low density territories) and local fixation of qualified population; b) proximity to real contexts and localized companies, designing adapted solutions; c) possibility of ensuring technical training (level 4 and 5 courses) and other levels of training, attracting students to higher education; d) development of interprofessional training essential to the quality of services.
The SH engages the partnership with 6 Intermunicipal Communities (Coimbra Region, Middle Tejo, West, Viseu Dão Lafões, Beira Baixa and Beiras and Serra da Estrela) and brings together around 100 municipalities in a co-development strategy. SH aims to empower businesses and public and professional organisations for a digital and green transition truly integrated in the planning and execution of the respective strategic decisions. Based on a closer and more synergistic
relationship between the Academia and the local territories (decentralized co-working spaces and at-work apprenticeship processes), the territorial innovation initiatives intend to promote endogenous development processes and contribute to territorial cohesion around major options associated with “smart transition”.
To do the construction of this project we envolved different services specialized in distinct knowledge fields: first, the Facilities and Heritage Management Service, with the selection of the space to be intervened as well as the design, planning and execution of the work; secondly, the Academic, Social and International Services - the main student services of university -, designing a new model for providing services to students; thirdly, the Pedagogical Innovation Coordination, with the construction of a Design Thinking Lab for university and schools students; then, the Employability Service, promoting the SH spaces with companies; and finnaly, the Digital Transition Service, responsible for the technologic equipment of all SH spaces.
Period: October 2021 - January 2023
Total number of Student Hub users: 49 864;
Total number of certificates for youngsters formative activities: 525;
Total number of certificates for adults formative activities: 39;
Total number of schools engaged with projects: 74;
Total number of students from schools engaged with projects: 8770;
Total number of volunteers registered under the platform for volunteering UCTransform: 2744;
Total number of volunteer initiatives organized: 112;
Total number of volunteers recruited for initiatives: 1208;
Total number of students engaged with social innovation projects: 125.
This project is innovative because there is no other that aggregates the SH set of valences, framed in the pillars of the New European Bauhaus: this space was transformed and rebuilt to be beautiful, sustainable and inclusive. But the immaterial aspect also promotes these characteristics through the multiple educational and skills development projects of young people and adults in the partner territories. The SH have the two sides of the coin: on one hand the space, and on the other a whole program of dissemination of these concepts.
Aligned with its strategic goals the SH intends to requalify facilities and promote "hackable spaces" (spaces that promote change and creativity), inspiring the connection to students, trainees, citizens, and territories, namely. The main example is the Student Hub space, a renewed conception of integrated services, cooperation and design thinking, but who wants to go beyond his own territory with co-working spaces disseminated in the territories, in coordination with municipalities.
At SH, the approach to a student-centered management of curricula is essential. Participation in hands-on projects, microcredits, and engagement in extracurricular activities are recognized as part of each student's academic path.
Moreover, SH promotes initiatives intended to generate talent, promote complex thinking, and connect communities with members of the academy. Students from different study cycles and scientific fields, teachers, and researchers collaborate in hands-on projects outside the classroom. Members of the university and stakeholders from the social and enterprise fields engage. Different generations are also invited to university challenges, as for instance, the UC Challenges for Global Sustainability for pre-university students, and the Software Academy, or the Teachers Training Academy for the long-life learning of adults.
These initiatives are the focus of the learning experience in the SH spaces. As theoretical and field-specific knowledge are covered by class attendance, other soft and hard-skills missing from the curricula may be developed in social impact projects, or by the inter communication with other areas in and outside the university.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide the foundations for this osmotic learning and development framework, acting as starting line for all projects and compass for implementation.
We are constantly looking for transnational partnerships that can enhance our knowledge in all the fields of work of our project, especially those that also promote impact on society. We also want to enable our students to continue their project and learning efforts in higher education institutions that are a part of the partnership and New Bauhaus as a whole.
But we want to be pioneers regarding the application of the New Bauhaus concepts to develop specific territories. And the SH project is the perfect precursor to build a new kind of region – the Coimbra Bauhaus. The idea of establishing a new area is not only an urgent idea for the constitution of a new national balance, but also an avant-garde project focused on environmental, ecological safeguarding and the quality of life, an alternative model to what we currently see to be applied. This kind of knowledge is only possible through European partnerships.
We believe that all components of our project could be - and should be - replicated or transferred to other places. We offer the possibility of sharing experiences and student initiatives, as well as the results of the models already in place for student involvement, as much as receiving potential students who wish to bring their projects abroad or continue them in any of our partner institutions in Portugal. We also welcome all staff, teaching or administrative, who wish to know experiences of coordination and efficient proximity of services, their benefits for students, and new ways to implement them in a city-spread and heritage campus.
We can also share the best practices promoted in the Student Hub. First, helping in the creation of 100% sustainable and technological spaces, contributing to the climate and digital transition. Second, demonstrating successful projects with strong participation of the pre-university public, helping to break down the barrier between different degrees of education. And third, supporting the development of skills.
The SH project aims to transform old spaces into beautiful ones, obsolete spaces in incubators of inclusive ideas and spaces - without use - in hub’s that promote sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The UN SDG provide the foundations for this osmotic learning and development framework, acting as starting line for all projects and compass for implementation, therefore, all global challenges are very present in each SH space or activity. But mostly, we want: to create cooperative training opportunities of youngsters and professionals, by promoting innovative programmes and training courses, adapted to different population segments and in coordination with employers and relevant socio-economic organisations; to promote a close coordination between empowerment, research and knowledge sharing, building more modernised, innovative, and customer/user-oriented services; to build processes of proximity and coordination between the Academia, the labour market, the territories and the populations, in order to encourage and create scalable innovation processes and learning ecosystems anchored in the digital and green transitions, sustainability, modernisation, humanisation, and context-driven action and research. To this end, partnerships are established with various socioeconomic organizations integrated in different business and intervention clusters, and with municipalities, incubators, laboratories, schools, business associations and Intermunicipal Communities.
One good result was the project "UC Challenges for Global Sustainability", where students from school and university, together, designed projects to respond the global challenges fixated by the SDGs, with a clear local solution.
