12 May 2023

Undergraduate students develop transversal projects linked to the SDGs

The nearly 800 first-year students at La Salle-URL have developed a total of 80 projects related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) during the 22-23 academic year. They have done so by working transversally, in groups made up of students from different degrees and with the aim of enhancing their role as promoters of social change, while stimulating their entrepreneurial spirit.

The activity, pioneering and paradigmatic of the integral education style typical of La Salle-URL, has been developed within the framework of the Thought and Creativity subject, a core subject for all university degrees at the center, in which students work on topics such as social responsibility, ethics and social impact from a humanistic perspective, one of the fundamental pillars of the campus and its studies.

During the academic year, the students have been able to reflect on sustainability and the importance of personal involvement in creating a better and fairer world for everyone. Between November 2022 and May 2023, eight sessions have been held that have followed the Candy Innovation Model methodology based on the challenge, the idea, the prototype and the pitch. Thus, synergies have been generated between undergraduate students from all fields of knowledge on campus.

The groups present the projects and receive the awards

The projects resulting from the work carried out during the subject delve into the ethical, moral and social commitment, responding to a transdisciplinary approach. The work groups have had the advice of a team of senior mentors —from various fields and linked to La Salle Technova, the innovation park of La Salle Campus Barcelona— and also with junior mentors, who are currently studying master's and postgraduate degrees in campus in project management, business leadership, and logistics. The initiative has been developed with the support of the Fundació Caixa d'Enginyers.

The President of La Salle Technova, Josep M. Piqué, has been in charge of leading the session and giving way to the winning work groups. Thus, the 16 most outstanding proposals have been chosen, one for each SDG, which were presented in a three-minute pitch; the 16 best videos have also been chosen, one per ODS. The session and the subject have been closed by the General Director of La Salle-URL, Josep M. Santos, who has highlighted the exemplary nature of the work carried out and has vindicated the importance of grtting behind, on the one hand, on a subject that thinks about sustainability from a transdisciplinary perspective and, also, as entrepreneurship as a path of learning and as a motor for change.