Abstract:

On the last 4 Octobers (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU) Student Congress has been held at the three Campuses of the UPV/EHU under the title “Our End-of-Degree Projects serve to transform the world”. In this initiative, which it is consolidated but aims to be a benchmark in future courses, the objective is to make visible and recognize the research work carried out by undergraduate students around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.

The congress is structured around the five thematic axes of the 2030 Agenda: planet, people, prosperity, peace and partnerships.

All Final Degree Projects that make a critical and constructive contribution to sustainable development are welcome, regardless of the degree or area of knowledge. The communication proposal can be made in Basque, Spanish, English or French. This proposal must include a summary of the Final Degree Project and a justification of the contribution of the project to the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. If participants consider that it makes a significant contribution to the post-COVID-19 situation, they can mark this option and describe the contribution.

A Scientific Committee evaluates the proposals based on the following criteria:
1) adaptation to the theme of the congress
2) rigor and correctness of their proposals and,
3) the originality of the proposal. Once the Scientific Committee has carried out the evaluation, the resolution is notified indicating if the proposal has been accepted as an oral communication (6-8 minute presentation) or in poster format.

The initiative has received 116 proposals (35% more) in its fourth edition (2021), proposals from all scientific areas and in four languages. The diversity of the degrees has increased from 33 (in its first 2018 edition) to 47 (in the last one, 2021). Regarding the classic groups of knowledge areas (Arts and Humanities, Sciences, Health Sciences, Social and Legal Sciences, Engineering and architecture), more than one third of the contributions (34-47%) come from Social and Legal Sciences. However, the number of contributions from Arts and Humanities has increased exponentially (from 3 in 2018 to 13 in 2021); evidencing the commitment of teachers and students of these disciplines with sustainable development and all the efforts done in the framework of IKD i3 strategy of the UPV/EHU (“i to the power of three”: learning ("ikaskuntza" in Basque) x research ("ikerkuntza") x sustainability ("iraunkortasuna"), which means multiplying learning by research and by sustainability, i.e. exponential growth of each of the terms, ushering in processes and products hitherto unknown. Finally it should be remarked that more than 60% of the contributions were sent by women (60%, 70%, 72% and 74% respectively), indicating a greater sensitivity of female to sustainable development and their effort to integrate it into this academic work.

In this paper, the details of the submitted proposals, as well as their disaggregation by gender, degree, SDGs and Ps will be presented. Their evolution and the participants' opinion will also be discussed.

Keywords:

SDGs, transformative learning, Final Degree Projects, Social impact.