On the 10th of February 2022, the University of Granada hosted a student hackathon to promote innovative ways of fostering student engagement as part of the university community. This event was organised within the framework of the Erasmus+ ECSTRA project, which brings together students and student support officers of the Vilnius University (VU) in Lithuania, the Jean Monnet University (UJM) in France and the University of Granada (UGR) Spain.
The main purpose of this initiative was to explore creative ways for raising awareness amongst first-year students of the available resources to enable them to be active members of the university community. Over ten students of the University of Granada worked together in this activity, brainstorming and analysing ground-breaking tools to facilitate and encourage the participation of students in university life.
The main outcome of this intensive collaboration was a work plan and a roadmap to be carried out during an academic year. This would be achieved thanks to different university activities such as working groups, training sessions and briefings, which would be guided by mentors and reviewed by the student council. After this time, it would be possible to measure the evolution of first-year students and the tangible impact of the proposal. It would aim to be carried out in diverse environments where different groups of students are empowered for better and more active participation.
With such creative proposals, the ECSTRA project aims to create an environment where those can be implemented and evaluated in terms of impact for being scaled up and shared with other universities as good practice frameworks. The project aims to get all the university community on board and involve as many students as possible in a dynamic, diverse and participatory university community.
