At Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) we aim to contribute to a better society through our teaching and research. How can we make sure students are ready for impact and engagement? The Community for Learning & Innovation (CLI) is one of the driving forces behind the shift in learning beyond traditional methods.
Joe Binetti (PhD) is one of the learning innovators on the CLI team and the Education Lead for Convergence. He focuses on equipping learners to navigate complexity with agency, care, and imagination. 'The university's impact and engagement mission asks for a richer set of capacities,' explains Binetti. 'How do you deal with societal complexities and partners outside the university, as a student?' To enable this shift in learning beyond traditional methods of consuming information, there have been several initiatives at EUR.
Stepping out of the classroom
Joe Binetti: 'We equip students to step outside the classroom and into the shared reality of our society. Here, they learn to collaborate with diverse partners, navigate complex disagreements, and take joint responsibility for solving societal challenges.' Binetti mentions initiatives such as Erasmus Verbindt and HefHouse, acting as bridges between lecturers, students, societal partners, local residents, and businesses. 'The most valuable knowledge often comes not from a textbook, but from listening deeply to the lived experiences of those beyond the university walls,' he adds.
Rethinking the course and curriculum design
But how are impact and engagement reflected in the course and curriculum design? 'True impact and genuine engagement aren't just buzzwords added to a syllabus.' answers Binetti. He explains that unlocking the students' potential to become active co-creators needs rethinking the curriculum. This is why EUR translated its mission into several educational programmes, in which capacity building, an important ingredient of transformative learning, has been incorporated. For example, the Diamond project and the Bildung Climate School.
A few years ago, Binetti developed the Impact Space Minor. This was an interdisciplinary programme focusing on sustainability, inclusion, and co-creation with societal partners to foster student agency. The minor received the highest rating among EUR minors in 2024/2026. Kuba Janusz was one of last year's minor students. He chose this minor because at the time he was suffering from what he calls "an academic burnout". He did not feel his hard work would change anything. 'I was browsing through the minors and saw the Impact Space Minor. It promised to do something real, to make a positive change in Rotterdam, so I thought, why not give it a shot?'
'To make a positive impact you really need to go beyond the laptop, see the world and listen to people'
Kuba Janusz
Former Impact Space Minor student
What are his most important takeaways from this minor? 'First of all, I learned to embrace uncertainty,' Janusz starts. He noticed the minor felt less prescribed than his usual classes, with room to shape his own path. This trained his adaptability to changing, dynamic situations. 'Secondly, I experienced that, in real life, defining concepts and problems is not as easy as reading and then citing a few academic papers,' he continues. He realised that agreeing on what the problem actually was, turned out to be one of the hardest parts of the process. Janusz: 'Another important lesson learned was that good solutions are not unilaterally curated by academics, policymakers and then delivered to communities, but that they are co-created together by all the societal partners.'
Janusz, currently enrolled in the master's programme Sociology and Social Research at Utrecht University, believes this minor definitely made him a different scientist. Before the minor, his scientific journey was purely theoretical. 'I knew about theories, the "good" outcomes and what "should" be done to solve certain problems. Thanks to the Impact Space Minor I know now that academia can provide valuable insights and helps in understanding certain patterns and phenomena, but to make a positive impact you really need to go beyond the laptop, see the world and listen to people.'
Transformative minors
Now students looking for a learning experience that goes beyond traditional lectures have several transformative minors to choose from at EUR. The Impact Space Minor has evolved into the new Civic Studio - Explore Societal Challenges, carrying forward the same teachers and design, while incorporating all the lessons learned along the way. This new open minor of 15 ECTS, co-designed by Binetti, offers a very hands-on learning experience. Civic Studio is an engaged, transdisciplinary minor in which students work on real societal challenges in close collaboration with societal partners.
Binetti points out an important "logistical" advantage of the Civic Studio minor: 'If you already selected a 15 ECTS minor but need to extend it to 30 ECTS, Civic Studio allows you to dive deeper into a subject together with partners from society. Of course, you can also follow the 30 ECTS programme of this minor. Enrolment starts 19 May. This minor is also open to students from Leiden University and TU Delft. The minor Global Poverty, Local Solutions from ISS is also available as both a 15 and a 30 ECTS minor.'
Isa Sanchez Cecilia is one of the teachers. What she hopes is that students will embrace uncertainty and learn to navigate it. 'In this minor, we invite our students to take ownership of their own learning: what is it that I want to explore alongside partners beyond the university? As teachers, we are there to walk with them, supporting their choices and helping them reflect on what meaningful contributions look like in practice.'
- More information
Please contact Joe Binetti, joe.binetti@eur.nl.
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- Related links
- Engaged Teaching: Mind the Gap, and Bridge it
Community for Learning & Innovation (CLI)
Impact & Engagement
