New ECIU challenges and micro-modules now available
Challenges are a unique opportunity for students to acquire relevant skills for their future, develop ideas in an international setting, and come in contact with public organisations from around Europe. In contrast, micro-modules are brief training capsules that allow students to delve deeper into the United Nations' 11 SDGs, acquiring additional skills that will help them solve problems or learn a new language.
UAB students can choose any of the challenges or micro-modules proposed by the ECIU member universities.
The UAB offers two challenges under the framework of the ECIU, the UAB's European alliance, available during the first semester:
Rethinking Barcelona: Urban Innovation Amid the Housing Crisis
Proposed by the Barcelona City Council, this challenge implies designing solutions for the city's deep housing crisis—where rents have risen 45% since 2014 but salaries have not kept up. The programme invites students to explore practical policies and innovative tools and models to improve housing access and equity, focusing on collaboration with local governments, communities and academic institutions.
Those interested in enrolling can do so until 15 September. The challenge is offered in a hybrid format and will take place from October to December, with a mobility week in Barcelona included.
This challenge can be validated for 3 ECTS credits.
Analysing Images with Artificial Intelligence (A-EYE)
The UAB libraries are making a significant effort to digitise documents from the Second Spanish Republic and the Spanish Civil War. But there is a critical problem: the handwritten censorship marks on radio scripts (crossed-out phrases, annotations, edits by fascist censors) are being lost in the process. Students will collaborate with archivists, technologists, and cultural researchers to identify censorship marks in historical archives. The course aims to develop artificial intelligence tools capable of detecting, classifying, and making these silenced traces visible. Participants will be able to work with real material and present their proposals in a final sprint in Barcelona. This experience is a unique opportunity to combine critical thinking, technology, and historical justice in an academic and innovative environment.
Those interested in enrolling can do so until 15 October. The challenge is offered in a hybrid format and will take place from November to January, and includes a mobility week.
This challenge can be validated for 3 ECTS credits.
UAB micro-modules
In addition to the challenges, students will also be able to enrol in micro-modules, short training capsules that helps them acquire more specific skills.
The UAB offers Exploring Catalonia: An introduction to its language and culture, which aims to train international students to understand and use frequently used everyday expressions and simple phrases designed to meet immediate needs. Registration will remain open until 12 September.
What can the ECIU offer students?
The learning opportunities, in both challenges and micro-modules, not only serve to acquire new skills and challenge ways of thinking, but also enable students to:
- Gain international experience, through collaboration with various European universities.
- Build connections. Working with students, businesses, and communities across Europe will allow you to grow your network of connections in the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
- Lead in innovation, contributing to social change through innovative projects and proposing game-changing solutions with a lasting impact on society.
International experience
In addition to the challenges and micro-modules offered by the UAB, the ECIU offers around 60 new learning opportunities open to students at member universities. These challenges involve students working with European companies, institutions, and communities to find solutions to real problems, while micro-modules are short courses designed to help students acquire skills in areas such as sustainability and teamwork.
Many of these experiences include a short mobility stay at the organising university (specified in the description of each challenge) and allow students to obtain digital microcredentials recognised in Europe.
More information: ECIU platform