Moving the Cities

 

MOVING THE CITIES is a team-based project with students from Germany, Brazil, Austria, Chile, the US, and the UK addressing major global urban issues.

This one credit course aims to develop students’ innovation and entrepreneurial skills while immersed in a collaborative multicultural experience. Students in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary teams will practice design thinking methods to formulate innovative solutions addressing the current challenges of their cities, regions, or ecosystems. These challenges are drawn from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Expert coaches and mentors will guide the students through a “digital accelerator” using lean methodologies to help conceptualize and develop their ideas. 

  • More than 100 students from 10 universities and 6 countries are expected to participate
  • For Fall 2023, this program will be run in a hybrid design.  Students will participate in one week of remote onboarding and preparation followed by one week in country. 
    • ​Week of October 16, 2023: remote onboarding & preparation for the program. Students will be required to attend 1-2 synchronous meetings during this week but all other work will be asynchronous. 
    • Week of October 23, 2023: in-country program (Germany) - hosted by FH Münster
      • NOTE: Students will need to arrange to miss courses/classes during this week. All missed course work is the responsibility of the  student to arrange with their faculty members prior to the program.

 If you are accepted on the program you will be required to attend one of the following mandatory Agreement Meetings:
Monday, April 17 at 4:00pm
Thursday, April 20 at 5:00pm
Wednesday, April 26 at 4:00pm

*Students who are accepted to this program, who have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, will be automatically considered for a scholarship of up to $750. That scholarship will only apply to this program for October of 2023. 

Key dimensions to the program:

  • Address key societal challenges from around the world in your multinational student team
  • Professional and methodical input to help your team solve the challenge is provided from coaches and mentors from around the world.
  • Great way to enhance your professional profile and network with leaders from many parts of the world.
  • Meet students from around the world.
  • Cultural explorations of the area will enhance the students understanding of the host country. 
  • For IE students:  this program satisfies Option A of the IE international requirement (approved international experience). 
  • For the Innovation, Product Design, and Entrepreneurship (IPDE) certificate:  this program fulfills the entrepreneurship requirement section.

see sample  Final Pitch from 2021

 

 

Application process and requirements: 

  • Open to SSOE students - must be in their second year or higher
  • Must have a 2.75 GPA
  • Must apply by the deadline- April 12, 2023 by no later than 11:59 pm.  Please click the "apply now" button to apply. 



This is a proposed Fall 2023 semester program. The course will have one week of virtual onboarding and then travel in October.

 

Please note, program subject to minimum number of accepted/enrolled students to run. 

Where You'll Live: 

Students from all of the participating universities will stay at a centrally-located hostel in Münster. The hostel will have common areas where students can meet to work on their project and/or just hang out and get to know each other.

If you've never stayed in a hostel before, the term may conjure a variety of images of rooms full of bunkbeds with very little privacy. This is not that kind of hostel. Students will stay in dorm rooms with up to 10 beds. Dorms are modern and clean, and each bed has a locked cabinet to store valuables. Each bed also has a light and outlet to charge electronics. Hostel dorms are an excellent opportunity to get to know fellow travelers or, in this case fellow program participants.