IMPLEMENTING SERVICE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A COMMUNITY INVESTING PROJECT

The new European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has promoted the use of active teaching and learning methods for education. In this context, the service-learning is considered as a fundamental student-centred method to develop academic skills and knowledge in order to address real-life needs in the community. It represents a potentially powerful pedagogy form because it provides a way to link the academic with the practical. The main objective of this research is to present an experience in higher education where students have created a community investment vehicle to their local community applying sustainable finance concepts and implementing learning methodologies, such as service learning. As a result, the students have developed critical reflection and they have enhanced their skills to solve real problems. This learning experience has presented the service-learning as a creative, innovative and effective tool in training practice for students of higher education, and as an opportunity to increase the students' motivation and their comprehension of sustainable finance.