Author(s):
Figueiredo, Tomás de 
; Graaff, Jan de ; Evelpidou, Niki ; Martínez-Casasnovas, José António ; Merino, Agustín
Date: 2010
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/7258
Origin: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
Subject(s): Soil protection; Erasmus Intensive programme; Transnational training
Description
SPinSMEDE, acronym of Soil Protection in Sloping Mediterranean Agri-
Environments, an Erasmus Intensive Programme, funded by the EC Lifelong Learning
Programme, was designed and implemented following the policy context of the
Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection in Europe. This document announced expectable
demand for technical competences to meet increased requirements on the issue, most
needed to cope with the specific soil degradation problems of Mediterranean hill-slopes.
SPinSMEDE took place during three years (2008-2010), in three different places
(Portugal, Greece and Spain), involving students and lecturers from five Universities.
The presentation aims at reporting this transnational training experience on soil
protection. The design, implementation and evaluation phases are described, outlining
the main background elements, methodological approaches and outcomes of each phase.
Namely, context-driven justification of the project, a description of the partnership and
programme contents are included in the design phase. Programme implementation is
addressed in terms of students profile, activities performed, assessment requirements,
support material provided, and project deliverables. After describing the programme
evaluation procedures developed and applied, the discussion focus on SPinSMEDE
success, drawbacks, and problems arose and ways adopted to cope with them. Final
remarks state main lessons learned and and programme follow-up activities envisaged.
