SUMED (Sustainable Multidimensional Media Contents) partners, INNOCAMP.PL, University of Gdańsk, Universitat Politècnica de València, Turku University of Applied Sciences and University of Malta, share the ambition to increase their organisations’ social impact. Media education must respond to societal and environmental calls for sustainability, as well as health and well-being at work.

 

Professionals working in the field of media do not acknowledge sustainability enough. Constantly changing media formats, tools, and methods makes integrating sustainability a challenging task.

 

SUMED has embeded sustainability into educational and production processes to prevent further harm to human well-being and the environment. Overall, the entire media supply chain of the production should be as sustainable as possible. This can be best ensured by incorporating sustainability criteria into the education of the future media professionals, focusing on both the topic and the associated ways of thinking.

 

SUMED has conducted training sessions for professors, offered courses for students, and provided support and inspiration for curriculum re-design to meet new needs. The development of new and improved curricula and courses have contributed to local communities and organizations that offer internships for students and support the skills of their new employees.

 

We started the SUMED project by collecting knowledge from the working life to map the needs for curricula development and sought to answer, among others, the following questions:

 

What sustainability skills, knowledge and attitudes are missing when graduates step into media jobs?

 

How can media teachers redesign or update curricula so students leave with the skills and outlook needed for sustainable practice?

 

How can students learn to produce social media that puts responsible engagement and transparency ahead of reach?

 

Which real-world practices, like solution journalism, clear roles and iterative feedback, should be brought into teaching to build sustainable working cultures?

 

What barriers prevent higher-education media programmes from integrating sustainability quickly and effectively?