CaST project

The CaST – Communities and Students Together project (2019-2022) is a joint effort of six European universities and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. It focuses on how universities can work more effectively and more inclusively within their city communities by providing students with opportunities to work on local societal challenges. You can find more information as well as all the outputs for downloading at the main project website: CaST – Communities and Students Together.

We define Engaged Learning as the process where students apply the theory learned at HEIs to a context outside of HEI by addressing societal concerns, challenges, or needs while producing knowledge in an equitable, mutually beneficial partnership.

A large emphasis for our project has been on the concept of reciprocity, whereby the community not only receives a service by those in HEIs but are also actively involved, engaged, and contribute to the overall learning process. This, in addition to the benefits students receive, results in students and community partners co-producing knowledge for mutual benefit.

We aim to push forward the agenda of the University as a part of an ecosystem of knowledge production addressing public problem-solving. The CaST project, supported by the EU’s ERASMUS + Programme, includes partners in six European countries: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The views expressed are purely the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of the European Commission.