3.000.000 NKr funding for Educating Leaders for a Sustainable Economy (ELSE)

The main goal of the project is to provide quality education in sustainability related subjects for tomorrow's business leaders in China and Norway, thereby making them better equipped for taking part in the emerging sustainable economy. The principal means of meeting this goal is twofold: (1) deliver a quality bachelor course in sustainability issues, where Chinese and Norwegian students work in teams, and (2) provide opportunities for selected master students to go on 3-month exchange programs between Norway and China. A further strategic goal is to build upon already established cooperative ties between our school Østfold University College (OCU) and our academic partners in china, Hebei GEO University (HGU) and Beijing Jiaotong University (BJU). Project coordinator is Søren Wenstøp, Søren, Associate Professor in Economics. 

The bachelor course will feature issues like: (1) the digitalization of the economy, (2) the demand for cyclical patterns of production and consumption, (3) the shift towards sustainable cities and infrastructure, (4) the shift towards clean energy, (5) the demand for flexible and innovative organizations, (6) the need for a new sustainable mindset for business leaders, and (7) the need for an international orientation in business. These points in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) Nos. 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 17 (building a cooperative partnership around sustainability).

The main activities of the project are: (1) arranging an academic bachelor course where students in China (Shijiazhuang) and Norway (Halden and Fredrikstad) work in cross-cultural teams on joint projects, and (2) master student exchange of two students from Beijing to Halden studying green energy technology, and one from Halden to Beijing who will study the green economy. The bachelor course will be run in three rounds, each of which will enroll 12 Chinese and 12 Norwegian students. Each course will be structured around intensive workshops for students of one week, one in Norway and one in China, with online cooperation in-between.

Published May 27, 2021 9:09 PM - Last modified Sep. 16, 2022 9:09 AM