What makes SE4GD unique?

The attractiveness of the programme...

…is based on the strong software engineering foundation and on the new perspective of combining sustainability with software development and emphasis on the effects on society. We believe our programme will attract you due to the increasing role of software in society and the wide possibilities of utilizing it in other sectors. Our strong network of well-known partners will provide you a strong and attractive content. The combination of sustainability, design and software engineering provides something for all of you.

Together we’ll tackle the sustainability challenges

Lifetime learning outcomes

Students studying in the SE4GD programme will graduate with a different view of the world.

As trained individuals you are able to see the environment around sustainable thinking, you will be driven to seek and use technology to improve the future of your society. You will learn highly transferable skills in software engineering and you will also be facilitated to write up your research and develop concept ideas.

Our students will emerge highly employable.

You will develop your personal learning plan at the outset of SE4GD and you will track your learning using reflective learning diary. You will build your CV (as part of the career education) during the programme. Using Active Learning Sets on Research Methods, within the Master’s thesis project, you will challenge your learning and begin a dialogue about how you learn and how you assimilate learning. This habit will be carried through all modules in the programme.

Staff will evolve with you.

Staff will actively seek opportunities to gather feedback on their performance as learning facilitators –the SE4GD programme will implement a code of practice for the staff that will ensure regular feedback from students and reflective discussion of teaching and learning practice with actions being documented and shared. As the programme aims to emphasize areas not covered before, each and every partner of the programme will learn new skills and competencies.

We will aim high.

Although the new perspectives will not change the fundamentals of the individual disciplines, they still have an effect. Our experiences show that the combination of ICT solutions and sustainable mindset attracts students, that are motivated and talented. Students that want to make change.

You will have your voices heard.

Students are encouraged to start a sustainability blog on the programme website.That way you have your voices heard already during the programme.

Our common future –understanding others and working together

The SE4GD programme is based on a multicultural background by combining several different cultural areas. The selection of the students into the programme will ensure multinationality that needs to be utilized in the programme execution. Content-specific to the learning of local culture and/or language in relation to the sustainability challenges is defined for each semester. Although language represents the cultural identity more important for the students is to learn the cultural aspects and sustainability challenges (we use our local and regional partners to extend this area).

Each hosting university will also provide some social/cultural events for the students. Hosting universities may also have closer collaboration with some of the partner universities. Students will be integrated into the socio-cultural environment within industry seminars and summer schools, and into all general work of the programme.

Even the preparation of this programme has impacted the ways the partners are thinking, working and networking. Partners of the SE4GD programme have been selected to fulfill the aims of the programme in the best way. As host, educational and industrial partners are important for the implementation of the programme content, regional and local partners are important for the real-world sustainability challenges. As SE4GD already has a connection to local partners in all hosting countries as well and many target regions, the programme is confident that it can provide competent education for students interested in the sustainable future.

Extending the SE4GD scope

The SE4GD project aims at having a strong impact in the utilization of software for sustainability goals (e.g. UN SDG goals). As the role of software for sustainability increases, the SE4GD programme will produce professionals with the needed expertise and the opportunities for these people in the academic world and in the industry will enhance. We seek for highly motivated and talented applicants that want to make the change happen.

The SE4GD programme aims to have an extended impact on sustainability. Rather than just improving technology, SE4GD aims to improve the efficiency of other domains like emphasized in the European Green Deal.

You as the graduate of the SE4GD programme will have the ability to solve problems in software design and engineering considering sustainability aspects and you will be prepared for a more sustainable future. As you work on real world problems provided by industry partners as well as local and regional partners, you may utilize your competencies immediately. SE4GD aims to answer to an extremely important question; how we can have an impact on the sustainable development on our planet.