Projects
Current projects
Uniservitate
2020 – 2030
UNISERVITATE is a global program that aims to institutionalize service-learning in Catholic higher education institutions. It is an initiative of Porticus and is coordinated by the Latin American service-learning network (CLAYSS). KU Leuven coordinates the West-European Hub of the Uniservitate project.
Involved network partners: KU Leuven, Artevelde, Karel de Grote, Odisee, Thomas More, UCLL & Vives
Website: https://www.kuleuven.be/english/education/sl/uniservitate
ServU: Service-learning in Higher Education for Ukraine’s Recovery
1/11/2023 – 30/06/2026
ServU (Service-learning in Higher Education for Ukraine’s Recovery) is an Erasmus+ project that uses Service-learning for the reconstruction of Ukraine during and after the war. The project aims to promote cooperation between local communities and higher education institutions to address (societal) challenges. By developing Service-learning courses at Ukrainian universities, students are encouraged to strengthen their resilience and make active contributions to their society. ServU is coordinated by Ukrainian Catholic University. The other partners in the project are two Ukrainian universities – Sumy State University and Dnipro University of Technology, and three European universities – Università LUMSA, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and KU Leuven. KU Leuven coordinates the WP “Service-learning Course Development”, which started in February 2025. In February 2026, KU Leuven organizes the seminar ‘Impact of Service-learning Pedagogy in Wartime and Recovery’.
Involved network partner: KU Leuven
Website: https://www.kuleuven.be/english/apply/education/sl/servu
SPACE (Erasmus+)
2024 – 2027
The SPACE project is the successor to the TEFCE and SHEFCE projects.
Involved network partners: VUB
Website: https://community-engagement.eu
Finished projects
Service-Learning as a pedagogy to promote Inclusion, Diversity & Digital Empowerment (Erasmus+)
2022 – 2024
The SLIDE project aims to connect the service-learning pedagogy with digital empowerment to strengthen inclusion and diversity. The project brings together students and teachers from different European higher education institutions to exchange knowledge, experience and good practices in and with society. UCSIA is the coordinator of this project.
Involved network partners: UCSIA
Website: https://slide-erasmus.eu
TEFCE & SHEFCE (Erasmus+)
2018 – 2023
Between 2018 and 2021, the Erasmus+ project TEFCE – Towards a European Framework for Community Engagement in Higher Education – developed and tested the TEFCE toolbox, an institutional self-assessment tool for higher education institutions to more strongly embed community engagement in their own operations and policies. The successor to this project was the SHEFCE project – Steering Higher Education for Community Engagement (2021-2023) – which focused on further embedment of community engagement in European higher education.
Involved network partners: UGent & VUB
Website: https://www.shefce.be
UNICORN (Erasmus+)
2019 – 2022
The UNICORN-project – Connecting student mobility to community engagement – a UNICORN model for international service-learning in higher education (UNIversity COmmunity LeaRNing) aimed to design and test a new international exchange model for students combining an international exchange with a service-learning experience abroad. The project ran from 2019 to 2022.
Involved network partners: UAntwerpen & UCSIA
Website: https://unicornmobility.eu
Urban Diversities: Challenges for Social Work (Erasmus+)
2019 – 2022
The project Urban diversities – challenges for social work brought together students, practitioners and teachers of social work around the table with residents of super-diverse metropolitan neighbourhoods to jointly identify and map the complexities and tensions in these contexts, and to jointly explore ways to effectively address these challenges. Part of the project was the development of a local Community Service Learning (CSL) trajectory, complemented by a virtual transnational exchange between students from the different partner institutions.
Involved network partners: Odisee
Website: https://deb.tuas.fi/urban/