Educational activities of the international Carpathian school in the context of sustainable development goals

Abstract

International Carpathian School is a fast-growing volunteer project in Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine, designed as a local centre of non-formal education to address youth adaptation to the globalized world. It intended to overcome the existing gaps in the education of socially conscious youth, finding optimal ways of skill-sharing activities to local communities. Among others, the school is oriented for delivering knowledge, skills and attitudes of the EU best practices in the field of municipal solid waste management (MSWM). In a broader meaning, the Carpathian School Agenda serves for the environmental protection of the vulnerable mountain landscapes to meet the Sustainable Development Goals Ukraine-2030 (hereof and after SDG), entered in force by the Decree of the President of Ukraine in order to ensure the national interests of Ukraine in relation to sustainable economic development [1]. The School activity is aligned with both SDG-4 "Quality education" and SDG-11 "Sustainable cities and communities". It has an interdisciplinary approach to learning where academic concepts of geoscience are coupled with real-world lessons. Carpathian Winter School hosted researches from Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia together with five educational entities from Baltic Sea Region (BSR). Scholars were exposed to a cross-cultural experience that facilitates connections between the classroom and the world around them. Simultaneously, the School is providing a prospect to local scientists in maintaining professional links with their foreign colleagues and obtaining hands-on scientific information on MSWM. Having a central geographical position and well-developed informal tuition activities, the Carpathian School may have a good chance to become a placement for students’ mobility, people-to-people contacts and promoting youth employability that is coherent with The Eastern Partnership (EaP) policy [2]. The educational project of the Swedish Institute LASUWAMA [3], which was considered at the Carpathian Winter School, combined researchers from Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia with five educational institutions of the Baltic Sea region. Representatives of EU universities, involved in the development of educational programs, provided the relevant knowledge and skills, needed to students for gaining an in-depth understanding of the sustainable development concept [4], including, inter alia, access to further vocational training in EU countries