ESSA Round Table Consultation: Expanding the outcomes and exploring the ‘usability’ of the European Students Sustainability Auditing programme

On 12 June 2019, the European Students’ Union (ESU), together with Higher Education partners from all across Europe participating in ESSA project (‘European Students Sustainability Auditing’) offered a round table consultation in the format of a breakfast at the premises -and with the support- of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).  

The objective of the consultation was not only to introduce the project, achievements so far and future expected outcomes to different relevant stakeholders but also to gather key inputs from potential users and/or their networks regarding the Open Educational Resources (OER) to be made available at the end of the project and opinions on the whole programme itself (including the final certification for students who can earn 5 ECTS credits at EQF level 6 after the completion of the programme). 

Over 20 attendees representing 15 different organisations/entities from all over Europe and working within the fields of Sustainability and Higher Education, came along to discuss the aforementioned aspects of the project and how the resources emanating from it could be useful for their institutions and/or members. 

The meeting started introducing an overview of the project and the Certificate in on Social Responsibility auditing (CertSRA), including background, activities and achievements; continued with an explanation of the Benchmark Standards (core reference point for the project); offered also the perspective of the students participating in the project, the views of the HEIs and finally concluded with a non-formal participatory activity where delegates had the opportunity to respond to the presentations, ask key questions and offer suggestions for the use of the project and its different parts and post-funding possibilities to use the outcomes.   

The project is now in its final phase, all the resources will be available at www.essaproject.eu between September-October 2019 and also in other platforms from ESSA project partners. 

The OER are designed to be used to deliver a social responsibility audit within a European Higher Education Institution (full programme offers the participants the Certificate in Social Responsibility Auditing after completion), although they can also be implemented as a standalone resource. The main resources of the programme are: 

• Facilitator training programme 
• Auditor training programme 
• Audit manuals 
• Assessment and Certification manual