What are the benefits of shifting from challenge owners to thematic stakeholders in Challenge-based Learning (CBL)? Sustainability TU/e team and TU/e innovation Space share their ideas in a series of infographics, which we summarise for you below.
Challenge owners ‘own’ a challenge by identifying an ill-defined problem that affects their organization/value chain. They are directly involved with student teams who are working on their challenge, and often want to remain attractive for students’ future career steps.
Thematic stakeholders, on the other hand, are comprised of ecosystems of different organizations (academia, public, private, NGOs) belonging to specific themes. Stakeholders no longer ‘own’ the challenge – students do. Students develop stakeholder management skills by keeping all stakeholders within the theme ecosystem involved.
TU/e mostly works with ‘owned challenges’ in CBL as we speak, but there are strong benefits in working with thematic stakeholders under the following themes:
- Sustainable industry
- Engineering
- Health & vitality
- Responsible mobility
- Smart urban spaces
- Regenerative resources
Benefits of working with external stakeholders
- The students get a real-life experience and perspective.
- The students develop skills and knowledge they wouldn’t otherwise.
- The students set up a professional network useful for their careers.
- Better distribution of work and responsibilities between teachers and external stakeholders.
- Understanding of complex issues, including sustainability challenges, from different perspectives.
Challenges of working with external stakeholders
- Aligning ways of working
- Setting the right expectations
- Having the students engage professionally with external stakeholders