SPACE meeting in Girona: pathways to institutional transformation

Partners of the SPACE project gathered in Girona, Spain, on 5-7 November 2025 for a consortium meeting that marked an important milestone in the project’s implementation. Hosted by the University of Girona and the Girona Region of Knowledge Foundation, the meeting brought together a combination of onsite and online representatives from Croatia, Belgium and Ireland to review progress, exchange insights, and plan the next phase of work.

Over two days of in-depth discussions, partners reflected on the project’s growing impact across institutions and beyond. The consortium confirmed that community-engaged learning has become a shared point of reference within participating universities, influencing both teaching practice and institutional culture.

Key themes and outcomes

• Curriculum redesign and innovation: Each institution shared progress in integrating community-engaged approaches into teaching. Redesigned courses are either already running or scheduled for delivery, demonstrating a steady shift toward learning rooted in social responsibility.
• Peer learning and collaboration: The meeting reaffirmed the importance of learning circles, which have strengthened professional confidence and fostered a sense of shared purpose among educators.
• Institutional transformation: Partners discussed how to embed the project’s work into long-term structures, such as staff development programmes, curriculum review processes, and micro-credentials supporting community-engaged teaching.
• Broader impact and sustainability: The consortium agreed to document both direct and indirect effects of the project, including cultural and pedagogical change.
• Dissemination and visibility: Planning for dissemination continued, with ideas to connect with European University Alliances, external conferences, and a final SPACE conference showcasing good practices and community partnerships.

The next phase of the project will focus on working with leadership representatives from eahc partner university to pilot an ‘accelerator programme’ for leading transformational change at partner universities. Other activites will include finalising course documentation, producing shared resources such as an ‘Inspiration Guide’ for integrating community engagement into the curriculum, and preparing for the final conference in 2025. Partners will continue strengthening dissemination across national and European networks to ensure that SPACE contributes to a more socially engaged higher education landscape.

The SPACE project (Supporting Professionals and Academics for Community Engagement in Higher Education) is funded through the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. More information on the project is available here.