Abstract:

Leaders of the future will be faced with challenging tasks in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. The new summer course at Bifröst university Iceland started in 2016 and has evolved ever since in content diversity and the participating instructors/academics. The course mission is to explore emerging ideas about leadership and provide practical training in leadership. The Nordic Leadership Model and Servant Leadership are in special focus, but those topics are the strategic research agendas of the university that is trying to specialise in modern leadership theories based on the Nordic tradition of lifestyle and governing. Sustainability and social responsibility are also highlighted, and the role of social entrepreneurs is an important focus. What is interesting about the development over the years is the formation of a network of academics involved in the course. The first academic book is going to print now and will be published in 2020, about Nordic sustainable practices. Another book is discussed now about the sustainable leadership. It all started in 2016 with seven academics from four countries coming together as instructors, where some were able to participate through the Erasmus programme. In 2019 there were 15 instructors from eight countries taking part in the teaching over a three-week period. The next step is to increase and expand this network even more. A second book is on the drawing board that will invite relevant existing and previous part-taking academics to take part with a book chapter proposal. Other research possibilities have also been discussed, like cooperation in educational research and to use the summer school course as a testbed for different teaching methods and student´s engagement to 21st century topics of importance. The findings so far suggest that a successful academic network is based on trust and intense personal cooperation that is in line with social network theories and is very much rhyming with theories of knowledge creation in academic and higher education circles. This case is an interesting reminder of the meaningful outcomes of fruitful co-creation and can shed a light on how international cooperation in new curriculum experiences can lead to extended layers of knowledge creation and practical learning outputs.

Keywords:

Cooperation, network, research, sustainability, leadership, knowledge.