Search

Global learning, intercultural communication and virtual teamwork are at the heart of the programme called International Virtual Course: Tackling Climate Change through Global Learning. Students learn together and from each other about the challenges and strategies for coping with climate change in the agrifood system and test new forms of virtual collaboration. The international exchange enables insights into different realities and encourages a change of perspective. Both, in the global North-South understanding as well as in the didactic setting, classic role understandings are broken down in order to enable collaboration at eye-level between all students and also supervisors, enabling joint learning. The importance of climate change, the understanding of its complexity as well as learning about mitigation and adaptation strategies in education is also confirmed by literature (Reimers, 2021). In addition, the newest IPCC report (2023) states, climate change actions need to be based on equity and inclusivity in order to achieve long-term solutions and sustainable development. To combine the aspects of equity and inclusivity in climate change education, four universities from four continents - the Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados (UFGD), the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (UASB), the University of Nairobi (UoN) and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) - developed this programme. Students learn about climate change in the agrifood system in different contexts and countries and develop intercultural communication skills. Due to its online format and low costs, the course is very climate friendly and socially inclusive. Since 2020, the course was carried out four times with a total of 143 students at the level of Bachelor/Undergraduate, Master, and PhD. The programme was concipated as a pilot-project and is constantly being improved. The course is structured in four phases with different events and communication tools. The structure