Universidade da Madeira

Publication Date: 04/12/2025

Researchers from the University of Madeira participate in the closing session of the SPACES project

From 15 to 17 October 2026, researchers from the Centre for Research in Education (CIE-UMa) - Gorete Pereira, Fernanda Gouveia, and Sofia Silva - took part in the final conference and closing transnational meeting of the European project SPACES - Student’s Path to Self-Awareness: Social Competences in Contemporary Academia, held at the University of Alicante, Spain.
Funded by the Erasmus+ Programme (project no. KA220-HED-01FCA0AF) and coordinated by the University of Silesia (Poland), SPACES brought together an international consortium comprising the University of Alicante (Spain), EUniversity (Italy), the Agere Aude Foundation (Poland), and the University of Madeira. Running from October 2023 to November 2025, the project focused on strengthening the social and emotional competences of higher education students and academic staff.
The meeting in Alicante marked the conclusion of two years of collaborative work dedicated to promoting competences such as empathy, interpersonal communication, emotional resilience, and social awareness, all recognised as essential for a more inclusive, ethical and human-centred higher education.
During the closing session, the project partners presented the main outcomes, including:
i) the Academic Social Competence Scale, designed to assess the social competences of higher education students;
ii) the Social Competence Scale for Academic Teachers, focusing on teachers’ competences;
iii) a set of methods, techniques, exercises, educational modules and workshop plans aimed at developing social competences in academic settings;
iv) the project’s digital portal, which gathers all materials produced and is available at www.socialcompetence.eu.
These resources are intended to support higher education institutions in creating more cooperative, resilient and socially responsible learning environments, providing practical tools to strengthen ethical behaviour, civic engagement and the well-being of the academic community.
The participation of the University of Madeira in the SPACES project demonstrates the institution’s commitment to innovative higher education centred on citizenship, well-being, and the holistic development of students.
More information:
Official project website: https://spacesproject.eu
Repository and materials: https://www.socialcompetence.eu
Project profile: https://www.facebook.com/socialcompetence.eu

{{curso.title}}

{{pessoa.Title}}

{{noticia.name}}

Researchers from the University of Madeira participate in the closing session of the SPACES project