The first-year undergraduate students at La Salle Campus Barcelona, a founding member of the Universitat Ramon Llull, develop projects throughout the academic year linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), projects that are part of the Thinking and Creativity subject, a core subject of all university degrees taught on campus.
One of the novelties of this course is the participation of social entities, which have joined first-class companies to propose new challenges to the students. The participating entities are Fundació Bancària La Caixa, La Salle Comtal, Federació Catalana del Voluntariat, El Llindar, Torre Jussana, Fundació Comtal, Fundació Habitatge Social, Amnistia Internacional i Federació d’Ateneus de Catalunya. Companies such as JG Ingenieros, Consorci Barcelona Zona Franca, T-Systems, KPMG, NTT DATA and HP have also participated. With the support of mentors, campus faculty, companies and organizations and through the implementation of their projects, students reflect on sustainability and the importance of personal involvement in creating a better and fairer world for everyone.
Creativity, innovation and commitment to the finalist projects
The culmination ceremony of a learning process that has lasted months and that guides students towards promoting sustainability through innovation was recently held on campus. In the practical activity of the subject, known as SDG Challenges, 840 students from different areas of knowledge participated and carried out 140 projects linked to the SDGs, of which 23 were finalists and two winners emerged who will present their projects at the Casa Generalizia in Rome, La Salle's global headquarters.
One of the winners was Team Sally, which responded to the challenge launched by HP and to SDGs 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption). Throughout the experience, they have had the mentorship of Roger Olivella and the members are Alejandro José Martínez (Degree in Animation & VFX), Dora Dereli (Degree in International Computer Engineering), Javier Gonzalo (Degree in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics), Kabir Kamleshs (Degree in Architecture Studies), Nikolas Rodrigo (Degree in International Computer Engineering) and Noah Pierce (Degree in Architecture Studies).
On the other hand, the other winner was the ComPis project, which responded to the challenge of Cáritas Diocesana Barcelona and to SDGs 1 (End Poverty), 3 (Health and Well-being), 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). With the support of mentor Jesús Purroy, the students who make up this group are Ariel Almanza (Degree in Computer Engineering), Ivan Pérez (Degree in Engineering in ICT Management), Jordi Ribera (Degree in Electronic Engineering - Mention in Robotics), María Rodríguez (Degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering), Mireia Vergés (Degree in Health Engineering), Paula Pellitero (Degree in Animation & VFX) and Pol Rivas (Degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering). The quality and creativity of the projects are testimony to the students' commitment to achieving the SDGs.
