The EU-funded project, “EverGreen – Including EVERYone in GREEN Data Analysis,” officially ended in February 2025 and recently received its final evaluation, issued by The Slovak Academic Association for International Cooperation (SAAIC), the National Agency for Erasmus in Slovak Republic. The project, led by University of Žilina, has been featured in our online webinars and included leading Oracle Academy member institutions from four countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Including the University of Žilina, partners were University of Pardubice, Czech Republic; University of Maribor and Municipality of Kranj, Slovenia; and the University of Applied Sciences and the Trokut Incubator for new technologies, both in Šibenik, Croatia.
At the intersection of environmental protection and information science (namely data analysis), the project aimed at upskilling teachers and students in digital readiness, data analytics, and environmental sustainability and bridging the skills gap by preparing IT graduates to conduct data-driven environmental forecasts and decisions. Project activities included development and piloting of a bachelor-level extracurricular course focusing on environmental data analytics and transnational production of multilingual Open Educational Resources, adaptable for both higher education and NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) audiences. Universities taking part in the project consortium are planning to integrate the developed digital module into their core curricula.
As the project’s associated partner, Oracle Academy contributed not just with its benefits (resources free to use for teaching and learning, including its Cloud Credits required to run Oracle Analytics Cloud on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as a platform for solving environmental challenges) but also through several multiplier events, held both online and offline, and disseminating project outcomes to the wider community of our members and collaborators.
According to the final evaluation, the course design and educator/student training events were praised for their high quality and systematic structure. Real sector (industry) integration, especially the involvement of Oracle, through its Oracle Academy program, was highlighted as an exemplary model of academia-business synergy. The multilingual output materials (available simultaneously in Croatian, Czech, Slovak, and Slovenian) and inclusivity efforts targeting NEETs and vocational schools were seen as standout assets. Lastly, the report recognized EverGreen as an example of good practice for future Erasmus+ strategic partnerships, especially in green-digital education.
Michal Kvet, Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics at the Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University of Žilina, and Oracle Academy coordinator there, served as EverGreen project coordinator. In his own words: “The EverGreen project created an excellent synergy of project partners. In the project, we focused on data analytics dealing with the environmental aspect, sustainability, and the future of the planet. The outputs and all study materials have been made available in online form, which are freely accessible on our project website. The course was oriented not only to universities, but also to NEETs and self-study. As part of pilot testing, the concepts of a standard semester format, as well as an intensive course, were verified,” he said.
“The project results were presented to the business community and to students and teachers of secondary schools. I would like to highlight a significant activity represented by the scientific conference focused on environmental data analytics, which was held last year (November 2024) in Poprad. The scientific and research aspect of the project was demonstrated by the publication of more than 30 scientific papers, most of which are indexed in the citation databases Web of Science and Scopus. I would like to thank all project partners, as well as participants in all our activities. Although the project has officially ended, our activities continue. The environmental topics that were addressed are of great importance for our future and the future of the entire planet. If you’re keen, please follow us on social media.”
To summarize, the successfully completed EverGreen project stands out as a successful Erasmus+ initiative due to its blending of technology, sustainability, and real-world engagement. With top marks from SAAIC (getting 90 out of 100 possible points from evaluators), it’s emerging as a model for future Erasmus+ partnerships aimed at equipping higher education with green-digital competencies. Its influence is already seen in ongoing projects like EcoMinds, which we will cover in upcoming blogs soon. If you would like to learn more about this project and get access to its freely available results, we invite you to visit its official web page, in particular the project outputs, or contact Michal, at evergreen@fri.uniza.sk.
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