Participants in the programme are seeking sustainable solutions to such problems as deep poverty, gender equality, and social mobility, MOME said in a statement, noting that the Change Agents scheme involves social design experts who help the civil sector address global challenges, while partner universities will work to “redefine design and art through the approaches and methods of social design”.

MOME’s partners in the programme are Barcelona’s Fundacio Privada Elisava Escola Universitaria, Estonia’s Kunstiakadeemia, Berlin’s Universität Der Künste, Bolzano’s Libera Universitá, as well as Israel’s Shenkar College.

The partner universities have worked with homeless, child and youth organisations, hospitals, elderly groups, municipalities and local residents on municipal development projects, as well as with civil groups promoting democracy in society.

MOME’s statement said the partnership would enable the reaction to the “real-life challenges of everyday heroes”, and building a more open system in which “teachers and students can practice and adopt social inclusion and diversity”.

Change Agents is the first partnership under the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme to be managed by MOME.

Project manager Rita Szerencsés said in the statement that “current problems of society and challenges of the future can only be addressed in cooperation and across professions”.