The ENGAGE.EU Expedition is an innovative teaching and learning format developed by the European university alliance ENGAGE.EU. Its aim is to bring together students from across Europe to engage intensively with the major social challenges of our time – from sustainability and digitalization to democracy and social cohesion.
 

The expedition centers on an interdisciplinary and international project approach: students work in mixed teams with fellow students from the ten ENGAGE.EU partner universities. Together, they develop practical solutions to real-world problems submitted by external partners from business, politics, and civil society.
 

One example of this is the “Quarters of Diversity” expedition, in which students designed strategies for an inclusive and diverse Mannheim neighborhood. Perspectives from the cultural and social sciences were combined with economic and political approaches to develop concrete recommendations for action for local authorities and civil society actors.

The expedition thus combines academic learning with social responsibility. Students apply their specialist knowledge in a European context, strengthen their future skills such as teamwork and communication skills, intercultural competence, and critical reflection—and experience firsthand how science can contribute to solving current transformation processes.
 

For the University of Mannheim, the format opens up the opportunity to network its students even more internationally and train them to become shapers of an open, democratic, and innovative society.
More information can be found here.

For many years, the University of Mannheim has been working closely with schools in the city and the surrounding region to provide students with practical learning experiences while enriching local educational efforts.

In the service learning format, students combine their academic learning with social engagement: Together with teachers and students, they develop projects that address current challenges, such as sustainability or digitalization. This results in workshops, project weeks, or learning support that have a direct impact on everyday school life.

The format has a reciprocal effect: students deepen their specialist knowledge and acquire key skills such as teamwork and communication skills, critical reflection, and social responsibility, while schools benefit from new impetus, creative ideas, and direct access to current research.

With service learning, the University of Mannheim is helping to strengthen the dialogue between academia and schools and prepare students for their role as shapers of a sustainable society.

More information can be found here.

With its Transfer Skills training series, TransforMA offers modular and practice-oriented continuing education for building skills in the areas of knowledge transfer, innovation, and social impact.

Interactive workshops and training sessions teach key skills that are essential for successful transfer activities in social contexts: from systemic thinking, design thinking, and co-creation methods to evaluation skills, stakeholder analysis, and strategic transfer planning. The series is based on real-life practical cases and addresses current issues of transformation, such as: Can creativity be learned?

The target audience includes specialists and managers from universities, research, and project management, as well as partners from business, culture, and civil society. Through the close integration of theory, reflection, and practical application, the series creates a space in which transfer competence is not only conceived but also directly practiced—in real project scenarios and in exchange with external actors.

For the University of Mannheim, the training series is a building block that systematically strengthens the transfer potential of its members while continuing to grow TransforMA's transdisciplinary transfer ecosystem. Participants bring their newly acquired skills back to teaching, research, and project practice, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of a transfer-oriented culture.

More information can be found here.