Abstract:

This report defines student-centred learning and teaching (hereafter also referred to as SCLT) as an overarching approach to designing higher education processes, which is founded on the concept of student agency. SCLT primarily concerns the capabilities of students to participate in, influence and take responsibility for their learning pathways and environments, in order to have a transformative learning experience and thus achieve deeper learning outcomes. Furthermore, we conceive SCLT as an approach that moves beyond classroom practice to construct inclusive and supportive learning and teaching environments – student-centred learning and teaching ecosystems - within higher education institutions (HEIs) and their subunits, as well as in broader higher education systems at regional, national and supranational levels. This report achieves two main objectives. First, it maps notable real-world practices of student-centred learning and teaching – namely, those practices with proven potential to contribute to the quality and inclusiveness of higher education. This mapping has identified a catalogue of best-practice examples of SCLT, the most interesting of which are presented as case studies in the report. We believe that these real-life examples, which have been successfully applied by universities, will allow stakeholders to move beyond abstract theoretical ideas, and to encourage the adoption of SCLT practices by drawing the attention of European universities to the most effective practices of their peers. To ensure relevance in the European context, when mapping the practices, we focused in particular on those applied by the universities that are now part of the European University Alliances – the Commission’s policy initiative designed to build networks of European universities working in line with the best practices in higher education. We have also examined best practices in SCLT applied as part of the Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ projects.