On 28 February 2020 in Warsaw School of Economics, will be held International conference of the Erasmus+ project DASCHE: “Social competences – the new dimension of the traditional mission of higher education”.
Fulfilling the third mission of the University – serving society – should focus on both current and future challenges, in particular those related to the Industrial Revolution 4.0. To meet these challenges, universities should effectively exploit their research and education potential and comply with the Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs.
Rapidly changing working conditions and social structures require individuals who actively shape their role in society. Higher education institutions are responsible for preparing their graduates not only for the labour market but also (and perhaps first of all) for being enlightened and active members of society. Higher education students and graduates play an essential role in developing and maintaining culture, humanity and democracy – developing social cohesion, preventing exclusion and extremism.
The DASCHE project supports the idea of strengthening the social dimension of university activity and providing students with the competences necessary for active engagement, at the same time as enabling them to be successful in the rapidly changing labour market and surroundings in which they live now and in the coming decades. The DASCHE project studied how higher education institutions in Europe are developing such competences — we call them, broadly, social competences. Our research shows that social competences are critical for all higher education institutions and for their stakeholders, although there is no unified definition for what those social competences entail – there is necessary room for debates about social competences, room for reflection.
- Are the European and national societies ready to face today’s and future challenges? Demographical? Climate? Automatization? Political?
- How can we prepare our students for the unpredictable future?
- What should be offered in a teaching and learning process? Are knowledge and skills sufficient? What else is particularly important?
- What is the responsibility of higher education for it? What is the value of higher education? Especially in long-term perspective.
During the final DASCHE conference, we want to provide a platform for discussion on these issues.
We also wish to create a showcase for your projects and ideas devoted to social competence teaching and learning not only in context of labour market and professional-related skills, but also on critical engagement, social consciousness and empowerment facing the challenges of nowadays.
We invite you to present your initiative, project or education programme to the conference participants. The presentations are to be focused on how the social competences can be developed by higher education institutions, or on how they can be assessed or verified.
Your benefit
The selected papers will be considered for inclusion into a DASCHE publication devoted to development of social competence by higher education. The book will cover definitions and theoretical conceptions of social competence, theoretical considerations about social competence in higher education teaching & learning and ethical reflections, as well as examples of good — or even best — practice.
If you want to attend the conference and present your reflection or project, please confirm your participation and send your proposal (max. 500 words) containing the author name and affiliation, the presentation title and main thesis to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. until December 16th, 2019 (sending before the deadline is recommended). The selected presentations will be notified by January 10th, 2020.
If you want to attend the conference, please confirm your participation via the registration form available at www.dasche.eu until January 31st, 2020.
Participation in the conference is free. A very limited budget is available for travel and accommodation of selected speakers. Please inform us about your need for financial support when mailing us.
Attached, please find the draft conference programme.
For more about DASCHE project, go to www.dasche.eu .
