Crossing boundaries – competence-based learning for sustainable development in a virtual mobility setting

To contribute effectively to sustainable development, professionals should have the competence to communicate and collaborate across the traditional boundaries of, for example, discipline, nation, or culture. Important ingredients of competence-based learning environments for sustainable development are therefore cross-boundary contexts and group work, with international student mobility as a prerequisite. An alternative to costly physical mobility schemes in higher education is ‘virtual mobility’, using e-learning environments that allow time and place independent communication and collaboration at low cost. Two successful examples of competence-based learning environments for sustainable development in a virtual mobility setting are presented and their perspectives discussed.