Following the principle of “learning by doing”, students took on the responsibility of managing the communication about the Sustainability Day at the University of Klagenfurt. In the process, they acquired new event organisation and communication skills while simultaneously heightening their awareness of sustainability issues.
The project was embedded within the course “Event Organisation” held by the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Klagenfurt. 15 highly motivated students used the course to improve their organisational and communicational skills, but also to advocate for sustainability, with the “Sustainability Day” serving as a concrete example.
The event, hosted at the University of Klagenfurt for a number of years and open to students, staff and visitors to the university, features a comprehensive programme covering sustainability issues: healthy living, eco-friendly mobility, zero waste, info booths, a clothing and book fair, sustainable lunch, games and much more. Most recently, the event took place on 31 May 2023.
The fact that the event was organised as part of a course was a novelty. The programme for the Sustainability Day, which was devised together with the university’s environmental representatives and the Lakeside Science & Technology Park, was finalised in March. Students drafted all the texts for the invitation, the promotion and the media work, created all the graphic and print designs from the site plans to the promotional messages and the information posters for the individual stations on Sustainability Day, were involved in organising the entire event, and the social media team created a new “Green Campus Uni Klagenfurt” Instagram channel to coincide with the event. The students also played an active part during the Sustainability Day itself: They participated with great enthusiasm as guides for the visiting classes from the university’s partner schools, as volunteers at individual stations, and during set-up and clean-up operations.
“Learning by doing” proved to be a great success: By doing, the students were able to learn a great deal about event organisation and sustainability.
