This repository brings together inspiring, real-life service-learning experiences that show you how higher education can actively foster competences for democratic culture. Each example illustrates how meaningful engagement with communities can help students develop critical thinking, civic responsibility, empathy, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of democratic values — while addressing real societal needs.
Whether you are new to service-learning or looking to deepen and refine your practice, these examples are designed to support and inspire you about how service-learning can contribute to the development of competences for democratic culture, both in students and societal actors. You will find detailed insights about learning objectives, pedagogical design, university-community partnership, and the concrete impact on students and society.
The cases in this repository contain a wide range of variety in countries, disciplines and educational levels, to show the diversity and contextuality of service-learning practices in Europe. They were selected based on their potential for transferability to multiple other contexts. Alongside successes, the cases openly share challenges and conditions for success — because innovation in teaching thrives on reflection as much as on achievement.
You can use these cases as a starting point or as critical mirrors for your own teaching context. We invite you to engage actively with the repository: compare approaches, draw ideas across disciplines, and imagine how your service-learning practice can strengthen democratic competences. By learning from each another’s practices, we can collectively expand the role of higher education as a space for democratic learning and social engagement.
University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca
Romania
Students examine the complex connections between humans, animals and the environment through co-designing impactful projects with veterinary clinics and ngo’s working in animal rescue and protection.
LUMSA University of Rome
Italy
The Trame di vita project was developed within the course Didactics and Special Pedagogy for Social Inclusion as a practical application of the course content and learning objectives. Conducted in partnership with APS “Le Quattro…
Catholic University of Portugal
Portugal
Capacitar para Salvar (“Empower to Save”) is a face-to-face service-learning initiative developed by the Lisbon School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Created in 2012 as a community health-promotion project…
Matej Bel University Banska Bystrica
Slovakia
The Human Rights Clinic is a practical, human rights-oriented course combining legal education with practical activities aimed at strengthening awareness of human rights, non-discrimination and equal treatment in society. An important part of the course…
University of Bologna
Italy
In IN.TRA – Service-Learning in Specialized Translation, master’s students apply their linguistic, intercultural and professional competences to real community needs while exploring the ethical and social responsibilities of translators and language professionals. Working through IN.TRA,…
Siena International Studies (SIS)
Italy
Italy, Land of Emigration and Immigration is the fully integrated, service-learning course at the core of SIS’s program “Interdisciplinary Migration Studies: Service-Learning and Social Action for Integration in Contemporary Italy”. Students work through the Home…
Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna
Italy
Universidade da Coruña
Spain
The Legal Clinic Xustiza Social is an initiative that combines legal education with social commitment, placing the university at the service of the community. Established in 2017–2018, the Clinic is based on a clinical and service-learning…
University of the Balearic Islands
Spain
The project was developed as a longitudinal service-learning initiative connecting three educational levels at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB): the PhD programme in Global Health, Health Services and Sociosanitary Care, the Master’s Degree…
Utrecht University
The Netherlands
The Open-Source Global Justice Investigations Lab at Utrecht University brings students from different disciplines together with leading societal partners to investigate real-world human rights, environmental, and conflict-related challenges. Students learn how to identify, collect, verify,…
University of Villadolid
Spain
The project ‘Participating to transform: Intergenerational actions’ is part of the Social Psychology course, situated in the first year of the Social Education degree program. The project fosters cooperation between students and older adult volunteers from…
University of Zagreb
Croatia
In Psychology of Parenting, graduate psychology students explore theories and research findings on parenting while applying this academic knowledge, together with knowledge and skills from other areas of psychology acquired during their studies, to design…
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Spain
In 2021, a major reform of Spanish civil law transformed how people with intellectual disabilities exercise their legal capacity. Moving away from substitute decision-making, whereby decisions were made on their behalf by legal guardians, the…
University of Zagreb
Croatia
This Service-Learning course at the University of Zagreb introduces students of Information and Communication Sciences to service-learning as both an educational approach and a way of using their disciplinary knowledge to respond to real community…
University of the Balearic Islands
Spain
The project responds to the social invisibility and fragmentation of care frequently experienced by people living with rare diseases and their families. These conditions often involve long diagnostic processes, limited treatment options and significant gaps…
KU Leuven
Belgium
In Social-Ecological Constructions, students from the Master in Civil Engineering Technology learn about sustainable urban development and building construction by engaging directly with real societal challenges through service-learning. Working alongside non-profit organizations and municipalities, students…
University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA) & University of Antwerp
Belgium
International migration is one of the major social issues of our time. In Europe, the debate on asylum, integration and solidarity often provokes strong opinions, but behind the figures and policy choices there are always…
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The Erasmus+ project ‘Service-Learning to promote Competences for Democratic Culture’, or SL4DC, explores the contribution of service-learning to the development of competences for democratic culture in European higher education. As part of this project, the consortium collected examples of existing service-learning practices fostering democratic competences from different European universities, across countries, disciplines and education levels. The collected experiences were analyzed, interpreting the underlying mechanisms and linking them to the four dimensions of the European Commission’s Reference Framework on Competences for Democrat Culture. The European Online Repository is the result of this work.
Through the analysis of existing examples, we will identify key factors contributing to the effectiveness of service-learning practices in fostering competences for democratic culture, highlighting critical structural and functional elements that make service-learning transformative and impactful, both for students and society. From this analysis, we will extrapolate practical guidelines and recommendations for higher education teachers and administrators to enhance the design and implementation of service-learning initiatives supporting the development of competences for democratic culture in European higher education.
The ‘Service-Learning fostering Competences for Democratic Culture Report’ will contain insights gathered from 67 case studies and [add final number] academic, peer-reviewed articles on European service-learning experiences. It brings together evidence-based research and experiential understandings on service-learning and competences for democratic culture.
The SL4DC report will be published in November 2026.
The European Commission’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) describes the competences needed to act as active citizens, to participate effectively in a culture of democracy, and to live peacefully together with others in culturally diverse societies. The framework identifies four clusters of competences for democratic culture: values, attitudes, skills, and knowledge and critical understanding.
The RFCDC forms the foundation of the Online Repository and acts as a reference point for all service-learning practices included.
Do you want to know more about the courses in the Repository or do you wish to get into contact with one of the teachers?
Contact us via contact@easlhe.eu
