Next to their core tasks of teaching and research, many universities nowadays place a great emphasis on the so-called Third Mission: Through various ways, they actively engage in and support their local communities in dealing with (global) challenges, creating added value and mutually beneficial connections. Third Mission activities aim to ensure the transfer of knowledge from universities into society and vice-versa through entrepreneurship, industry collaborations, continuing education and community outreach projects. This track of the International Staff Training Week will look specifically at developing and implementing concepts for learning with and from society for our students, focusing on challenge-based learning, service-learning and mentoring programs. Together, we will examine the benefits and challenges associated with each concept and their contribution to the university’s Third Mission goals. We’re excited to learn from each other’s best practice examples, spark new ideas and foster international collaborations between our institutions.

    

Please review our draft agenda. As this is a preliminary version, the program remains subject to change and will be further developed in the coming months, also taking into account participants’ input.

Participation in this program is limited to a maximum of 25 participants.

The application period will end on 26 January 2026. As we usually receive more applications than available places, the motivation questions in the application form are an important part of the selection process – we therefore kindly ask you to complete them carefully. The program is designed for active participation, and contributions from participants are warmly welcomed.