Curricula extensions: Project oriented global sustainable Topics 

1. Current Situation

Many universities have international activities: student exchange, international research projects and joint degree programs. New technolocical possibilities allow to interact much easier in hybrid long-distance projects. In addition there are new industry and society expectations, offen described by the big 4 "D": Digitalization, Decarbonization, Demographic development and Diversity. Thereforde there is a need to extend curricula for more exchange in order to achieve an extended view for students concerning global perspectives and possible solutions for global challenges. In the following as a starting point the activities of Stuttgart Media University are described and the possibilities of expanding it on an international level. In conclusion an example is given for curricula extensions with project oriented global sustainable topics.

2. Eco-System for student partizipation in applied research and entrepreneurship 

2.1 Internal university level

Stuttgart Media Unversity has icluded a lot of creative and innovative activites in the curricula. This is possible in a ecosystem which consists of the following parts: A creative environment, the organization of innovation processes and entrepreneurship activities.

2.2 International Level

How can the experiences descibed above be used to extend curricula on an international level? We need partners which offer a framework for international projects in their curricula and work together on selected topics. Students have to be integrated in to applied research and transfer activities in these projects. HdM has such structured acitivites mostly in the European Union (and funded by the EU), e.g. design camps with European partners, and structured projects like business games (European Business Master Cup). 

It woud be exciting to do such projects in a global scale. Among others the current HdM network consists of universities in South and Central America in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Ambato (Ecuador), Santiago and Valparaiso (Chile) and Sancti Spiritus (Cuba).

3. Example: Natural fiber – a new value chain

What could be topics for such projects? Possible topices should be relevant in all parts oft he world and appropriate for transfer and student-based research. A project example could be research on biogenic materials for packaging. These are a relevant part of a cycling economy: Natural fiber based packaging materials are necessary, plastics should be avoided in future. The value chain is extended by energy production and packaging products from residual materials like sugar cane.This task is relevant in all parts oft he world. Residual materials can be used in order to improve sustainability, to reduce carbon footprint and costs.

Several unversities (partners of HdM or at least in touch with HdM) work on the topic of these new improved value chain, e.g. in Ambato (Ecuador), Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Sancti Spiritus (Cuba).

4. Conclusions

We like to share and discuss the idea of curricula based international projects with interested universities. Relevant project topics should be defined, which are appropriate for international student groups, hybrid project-oriented lectures, student-based research and transfer acitivites. Students could learn about different international perspectives on highly relevant topics.