This report describes, evaluates, and reflects upon the activities of the Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching (ReSET) Project “Governance of Global Environmental Change: Towards a multidisciplinary discussion in tertiary environmental education in the former USSR and Mongolia” which spanned June 2011 – August 2014.
Download the full ReSET Project Report [PDF]
The ReSET project was organized by the Russian State Hydrometeorological University, the Central European University, and the Earth System Governance Project, along with funding and coordination under the auspices of the Open Society Institute’s Higher Education Support Programme.
In the former USSR, universities and research centres tend to have a solid base of expertise in research formulated around a single discipline, while inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary studies are not yet well developed. The ReSET Project was designed to address this pedagogical gap. ReSET Project activities were organized in the Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus around annual Summer Schools, complemented by inter-school sessions, pilot-courses, and by online communication amongst the participants and the faculty.
During the three years of its lifespan, the project achieved and partly exceeded its goals. Project participants developed strong, interdisciplinary expertise as they increased the quality of their teaching skills in an effort to move towards current international teaching standards. The project also assisted the participants in becoming aware of, and making contact with, a variety of national, regional, and international networks in the field. Regardless of the on-going structural challenges in the former USSR that continue to limit approaches to and organization of teaching and research in the region, it is likely that most project achievements can be sustained thanks to the committed engagement of those who participated in the project.
For more information about the ReSET project, please click here.
