Vytautas Magnus University

New Project at VMU Agriculture Academy – „RuralCOM“

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By developing a new joint curriculum in rural community development (RCD) this RuralCOM project aims to implement joint initiatives together by promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchange of experiences at European level.

RCD encompasses a range of approaches and activities that aim to improve the welfare and livelihoods of people living in rural areas focusing on rural sociology, tourism, local economy and sustainable environment.

The RCD curriculum differs to a great extent from rural development in general. RuralCOM focuses on villages and people, including the sociology and social capital aspects of human beings (not only infrastructure and economy).

All partner country rural areas face similar challenges: out migration, declining economies and local services, remote areas suffer long distances to cities or municipality centres; surviving these challenges requires new tools for rural communities. Typically, this also entails increasingly active citizenship from rural people: taking more responsibility locally for improving their livelihoods, services, creating active dynamic business environments and greater opportunities for younger people’s self-realisation. Tackling these problems of social exclusion concerning services, lack of jobs and meeting the needs of declining youth rural populations and consequent aging can be community and social entrepreneurship and involvement of young people in creating local job opportunities.

The overall objective of the RuralCOM project is to support rural community development, social entrepreneurship and environmental sustainability of rural areas.

Currently, there are no holistic and integrated rural community development curricula in Master’s level in partner countries. RuralCOM consortium will develop, implement and test a new approach to promote creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and skills for designing innovation in close cooperation with the rural communities in which the universities are embedded.

This will be achieved by three core activities and outputs:

  • The new joint Master’s curriculum on Rural Community Development (O1),
  • RuralCOM e-learning materials and the RuralCOM MOOC (O2)
  • Continuous and adult learning courses with materials for rural development leaders (O3).

RuralCOM project supports all four pillars of EU Education and Training 2020 framework (ET2020) by:

  • Supporting lifelong learning and mobility
  • Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training
  • Promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship on rural community level
  • Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training (specific focus on social entrepreneurship).

The new curriculum focuses on 4 central topics:

  • Rural community development and public administration
  • Rural business and social entrepreneurship
  • Rural sociology
  • Tools and skills for environmental sustainability.

Partners

RuralCOM project is initiated by five universities:

  • Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU),
  • Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU),
  • Vytautas Magnus University (VMU),
  • Ruralia Institute of Helsinki University (UH)
  • Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE)

Results

Main results of the RuralCOM project:

1) Output 1: New Joint Master’s Curriculum on Rural Community Development- to be implemented in three Baltic States from September 2022 (EMÜ, LLU and VMU). Finnish (UH) and Romanian partner (ASE) take part in developing the curriculum but adapt only selected courses and modules of the new output.

Output 1 will focus on:

Rural community development and public administration – rural transformation: producer responses to European / global trends, structural changes, administrative and organisational structure, animation, activation, regeneration/revitalization, community involvement, community involvement methods – participatory approach, rapid rural appraisal, social carrying capacity (community sustainability), village movements – LEADER programme, NIMBYism, rural development clusters, community development as a platform for rural business development, rural cultural activities/rural heritage, thematic villages, SMART villages, eco-villages, volunteering.

Rural business and entrepreneurship, including social entrepreneurship – rural economics, new methods in agriculture, supply chain, non-food traditional rural economic activities: forestry, transport, service sector (financial/public sector), bio-economy, rural and nature-based tourism, culinary tourism, the rural micro-business sector, social and rural community enterprise, rural business enterprise and developing entrepreneurship, rural business diversification, rural non-food business development, youth – counselling, business start-up in a rural context and financing – micro, social, LEADER programme financing.

Rural sociology – social capital, rural communities and development, community research methodology and approaches, needs assessment, methods community sustainability (social carrying capacity), rural demographic change, ethnography, anthropology.

Environmental sustainability of rural areas – nature capital, long term monitoring of environmental impacts, environmental carrying capacity, environmental and sustainable development conventions and statistics, climate change and measures to resist the impacts of climate, circular economy, environmental planning and policies, nature conservation, protection and management, development in protected areas, sustainable transport systems and new modes of transport, green procurement procedure.

Output 2:

E-learning materials and the RuralCOM MOOC – e-learning content is developed in 25 ECTS to support face-to-face learning (new joint curriculum of O1) with digital materials (study videos and 360 videos, online exercises and tests, etc).

One MOOC (massive open online course) is also developed on “Social Entrepreneurship for Rural Development” (5 ECTS in English).

The objective of O2 is to integrate the work done in Output 1 in the maximum possible way into various e-learning materials of the new joint Master’s curriculum of rural community development. 20-50% of each course content is planned to be carried out via e-learning. By e-learning in this context we do not mean new courses or programs delivered completely and 100% online, we mean e-learning materials to support class-room education (or so-called traditional education combined with e-learning materials).

E-learning supported courses makes the education provided more flexible in terms of geographic location and time – depending on their availability and comfort, many people choose to learn at weekends or evenings from home or abroad.

E-learning is beneficial also for the reason that lectures (e.g. videos) and other materials can be reviewed multiple times. In traditional forms of learning, if you cannot attend lectures, then you have to prepare for that topic on your own but with supported e-learning, you can attend the lectures whenever you want with ease. It is also claimed that if face-to-face learning is supported with e-learning, the delivery of lessons and obtaining of skills tends to be quicker. Compared to 100% traditional classroom teaching methods, this combined mode with e-learning has quicker delivery cycles. This indicates that the time required to learn is reduced to 25%-40% of what is required in 100% traditional face-to-face learning. Learners can define their own speed of learning instead of following the speed of the whole group, it saves time as a student does not need to travel to each training venue and one can learn at the comfort of your own place. Face-to-face education combined with e-learning is cost effective as compared to 100% traditional forms of “class-room” learning. A lot of training time is reduced with respect to trainers, travel, course materials, and accommodation. As E-learning is a paperless way of learning, it also protects the environment to a great extent. E-learning content includes lecture capture videos, virtual classrooms; educational interactive games, specialists’ tools for the process (e.g. computer-aided design applications), virtual reality (simulation of procedures or physical spaces and objects). 360-videos are also used along with EMU’s 3D landscape theatre (please see Task O2/A1).

Output 3:

Continuous and adult learning courses for rural development leaders- 10 adult learning courses based on O1 and O2 materials are adapted for short intensive courses targeted to local rural development leaders (8-16 hours courses). Each partner is responsible for developing 2 courses (a total of 10 courses). All courses are available in English and as relevant, translation is made to Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish and Romanian for local training at rural community level.

Continuous and adult learning is about the constant expansion of skills and skill-sets through learning and increasing knowledge. As life changes the need to adapt both professionally and personally is as real as the changes themselves. Based on Output 1 joint curriculum and Output 2 e-learning content, RuralCOM project also aims to develop adapted and more intensive courses and materials to adult learners – with the main target group on rural community leaders (village and community leaders, NGO leaders, social entrepreneurs).

Today, continuous learning forms a necessary part in acquiring critical thinking skills and discovering new ways of relating to people from different backgrounds and also cultures. It helps to ensure learners remain relevant to their field by keeping up to date with trends and adapting their skill sets and to function effectively amongst this rapidly changing world of technology. Lifelong learning will help members of the rural communities adapt to new economic opportunities or unexpected changes, for example, climate change, migration, farm business diversification, food processing or rural/nature-based tourism or economic downturns and loss of jobs and thus having to depend on new skills to exploit these opportunities, to find work or become self-employed. By continuing to learn, persons more easily step out of their comfort zone and have greater confidence to take on or create these new job opportunities.

Topics for this adult and continuous learning will be based on the RuralCOM joint curriculum and e-learning content:

  • animation, activation, regeneration/revitalisation of communities;
  • community involvement methods – participatory approach, rapid rural appraisal;
  • social carrying capacity (community sustainability), village movements – including the LEADER programme;
  • rural development clusters, community development as a platform for rural business development;
  • rural cultural activities/rural heritage, thematic villages, SMART villages, eco-villages, volunteering.
  • Rural business and entrepreneurship, including social entrepreneurship – rural economics;
  • new methods in agriculture, supply chain, non-food traditional rural economic activities: forestry, transport, service sector (financial/public sector), bio-economy, rural and nature- based tourism, culinary tourism, the rural micro-business sector;
  • social and rural community enterprise, rural business enterprise and developing entrepreneurship;
  • rural business diversification, rural non-food business development;
  • youth – counselling, business start-up in a rural context and financing – micro, social, LEADER programme financing.
  • rural sociology – social capital, rural communities and development, community sustainability (social carrying capacity). – environmental sustainability of rural areas. 

Contact information:

Project manager (Lithuanian partner):

Dr. Vidmantas Vyšniauskas. E-mail: vidmantas.vysniauskas@vdu.lt