The complexity of societal and scientific problems asks for academics who are able to combine knowledge from various disciplines effectively. A creative mindset will be very helpful to achieve this. However, even though creativity is considered as one of the most valuable assets for our learning and work, particularly for solving complex problems, we don’t quite know how we could enhance or learn it. This is the challenge for the European collaboration CT.Uni: Creative Thinking.

In this consortium, eight universities from seven European countries collaborate to share experiences, ideas and teaching materials focuses on enlarging creative capacities within interdisciplinary higher education. The project considers in particular if and how the STEAM (collaboration of Art and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) approach can be used for this. The team is creating a meta-study in which an overview of effective methods and work forms are being described and will provide various training events for teachers to apply these as good as possible in their own teaching.

Aim and objective

The CT.Uni-project aims to apply the STEAM approach to strengthen the teaching and learning of creativity in higher education, especially in inter- and transdisciplinary programs. STEAM is a process which promotes collaboration between Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering and Mathematics. In the CT.Uni project, students, researchers, lecturers and managers are encouraged to transcend the boundaries of their own field of study or discipline in order to think divergent, critical, and creative. Besides creating a portfolio of effective materials and interesting ideas to teach creativity and innovation in higher education, the CT.Uni project will train interested lectures in the use of these.

UvA Team

Emiel van Loon, UvA project leader (IBED), Natasa Brouwer (TLC Science), and the Faculty of Science lecturers who (wish to) use teaching methods that stimulate creative thinking.

Partner institutions

University of Economics in Bratislava (leading organization) (Slovakia), Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), Instituto Politécnico da Guarda (Portugal), Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Slovakia), Universiteit van Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Sapenza Università di Roma (Italy), Háskólinn á Bifröst (Iceland), Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin (Poland)

CT.Uni Kick off meeting in Guarda, Portugal, June 2022

Start project: 02-05-2022

End project: 01-05-2025

Funding: Erasmus+, KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/ct-uni/home

Disclaimer: The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.