Partner projects

Initial situation

To support the transformation of the University, the Rector’s Office wanted to strengthen the community’s contribution and its members’ commitment to the institution, by enabling them to propose projects in which students, teachers and staff could participate and become actively involved.

Based on existing forms of partnership projects in other structures (Students as Pateners in Anglo-Saxon universities, “Patients Partenaires” at the HUG, etc.), the manager set up the Partner Projects Program (P3). The aim, particularly with students, is to encourage their potential for creativity, learning and innovation in projects run by the institution.

Project implementation

Twice a year, a call for projects is sent out to students and staff at the University of Geneva. Any member of the community can submit a project idea via an online form on the dedicated website. Students, however, must already have found a partner (collaborator) to submit a project.

Around ten projects are submitted for each call and are then evaluated by a selection committee. To be eligible, the project must concern a transformation (e.g. an improvement in a service or tool) at the University and must benefit the community (cannot benefit a research laboratory exclusively). There is a set of seven criteria for evaluating projects. They are designed to ensure that very concrete community issues are brought to the fore, while at the same time ensuring that the project is compatible with the institution and the P3 specifications.

The selected projects are published on a website, where students can consult them and then submit, via a form, their applications for three projects in order of preference. Once the applications are closed, a matching process is carried out to ensure maximum satisfaction. As the aim of P3 is to enable learning, and to encourage an interdisciplinary mix, prior training or skills are not taken into account as a priority, except in the particular case of a project requiring a prior skill that it is not possible to acquire within the timeframe allotted to the project.

At least one collaborator and one student partner, one of whom is responsible for a project, are required for the project to be launched. The groups get to know each other at the beginning of the semester during a welcome session. Each project also has a contact person who is external to the project. This person is responsible for monitoring the project throughout the semester but is not involved in its management. They can be contacted at any time for support.

The project is carried out independently by the members. The program provides an ethical framework, resources (e.g. documents, coaching, training workshops or finance) and opportunities to meet. The investment of each member is free to encourage autonomy, however, an indicative number of minimum and maximum hours to be provided is transmitted. Project support is therefore primarily structural.

At mid-semester (or end of semester for longer projects), all projects are assessed qualitatively through an informal meeting lasting around 1 hour. The interview ends with a standardized questionnaire, which is used to summarize the interview, assess the project’s progress and identify any problems. The interview provides an opportunity to offer moderation or expertise. In addition, participants provide joint and individual feedback on their personal experience via a form.

At the end of the semester, using a template provided, the partners complete an activity report outlining the various stages of the project’s construction, the challenges encountered, and the learning achieved. In addition, each participant receives an official certificate that can be used in a CV or, for students, with their faculty to obtain ECTS credits. The certificate attests to the skills and knowledge acquired.

The experience concludes with the obligation to present their project publicly at the “Demain, l’UNIGE” event, which showcases the community’s collaborative commitment and during which other collective intelligence projects are invited to participate.

Completed projects are supported in their deployment, wherever possible. Follow-up is also carried out at six months and one year to assess partners’ progress beyond the program. Finally, to reinforce mutual learning and maintain active commitment, partners who have successfully completed a project are invited to join the P3 community over the long term, notably by participating in project selection committees for new editions.

Thoughts and advice

The main point of concern in carrying out this project is the workload for the partners. As the work is carried out outside the framework of a course with precise timetables, the partners often allow themselves to be overloaded, or overestimate their ability to complete certain tasks within certain deadlines. That’s why support is crucial, to ensure that the partners are not left to their own devices, at the risk of the project stagnating or becoming dispersed.

Still at the level of implementation, it’s important to ensure that everyone has a certain intellectual freedom, and to create a bond of trust with the partners, so that they can express themselves through their project. By doing something concrete and useful, often by solving a problem, students gain confidence. The institutional partner discovers and learns at the same time, in a process of co-construction that enforces the legitimacy of what the student can contribute.

Once developed, projects can take different directions. Related projects can support each other and merge to find mutual solutions. Competent departments may be asked to take over part of the work carried out, if a dossier has been drawn up it is circulated, and sometimes the student partner is taken on as an intern.

P3 is highly transferable. For example, for courses in a curriculum based on project-based teaching, students can submit a project for continuation through the P3. Conversely, a project developed via P3 can be taken up again in this type of course and be the subject of credit validation. From a development perspective, P3 is keen to work actively with faculties to integrate the program into their curricula. Ideally, the possibility of obtaining free credits through participation in this type of project should be included in the study regulations.

Student feedback

“Very good supervision, with relevant and useful deadlines to properly integrate the relatively short temporality during which the P3 takes place.” [Student] “The P3 program is a unique project that not only helped us to bring our idea to fruition, but also to obtain a reliable mentor, valuable feedback and promotion of our project at UNIGE. In addition, P3 certainly helped us contact colleagues whose help was needed in implementing the project.” [Student] “The undeniable advantage of the P3 program lies in the possibility of benefiting from the expertise and vision of a student at the University of Geneva. On the other hand, the limited duration of one semester forces us to give enough time and energy to the project to finalize it within the allotted time, which allows us to achieve concrete results quickly. I’m very pleased with the speed with which a realistic solution was found. The final implementation remains to be done, but I’m confident that this problem of making stay reports available, which has existed for many years, will be solved in the coming months.” [Staff member] ”[…] The positive aspects of the collaborative program were the fact of broadening one’s connections within the University and of meeting and being able to work with trained people who benefit from a certain experience and expertise in the field concerned. As a result, we were able to have lots of enriching discussions. The less positive side of the P3 format was the time constraint, as sometimes it was difficult to find a time to meet and discuss next steps or completed results until a certain point. Also, it’s sometimes hard to know who to turn to for more opinions in order to make optimal choices.” [Student and Collaborator] “[Positive points:] The framework offered by the P3 referent was very helpful in guiding the project, asking the right questions about the tools used, creating potential bridges with other projects, etc. An enriching collaboration and a prototype to be developed; experience in managing a project with fairly complex requirements (use of new tools to respond to an original problem). [Negative points:] No insight into other P3 projects underway (meetings were planned but never took place, unless I’m mistaken). Gap between conception and realization. If the objective of P3 is to foster collaboration and mutual understanding between different members of the UNIGE, objective achieved; if the objective is a functional product, it’s ambitious.” [Student and Collaborator] “In addition to the financial aspect, the P3 gave credibility to our project, which greatly contributed to its success and the relationship we had with the users. What’s more, the availability and advice of Raphaël and our consultant Lamia were invaluable. Finally, the possibility of benefiting from the network and being put in direct contact with the various UNIGE structures facilitated exchanges and our integration within the UNIGE. [P3 brought] The possibility of making a difference on our campus! Through the P3, we were able to contribute to improving community life according to our own vision. We were also able to develop our knowledge of project management and certain technical aspects in an enjoyable team environment. On a positive note, we were given autonomy in carrying out the project, while remaining available and attentive to our needs. The people at P3 were always there when we had a question or concern, which I find very positive. It would be interesting to have a competition with the different P3 projects, as it might provide extra motivation for the different groups.” [Student and Collaborator] “The P3 program contributed to our project on several levels. Firstly, thanks to their financial support, we were able to get the project off to a solid start. The P3 supported us by funding key events such as the kick-off aperitif, which brought all the group members together and created a convivial atmosphere right from the start. The printing of stickers helped to raise the profile of the project. In addition to financial support, the P3 gave us visibility within the University of Geneva. Thanks to this, we were able to promote our project more effectively, arousing the interest of medical students and lecturers. P3’s regular follow-up has also been invaluable throughout the project. We had Zoom meetings with the P3 team to discuss our progress, share ideas and resolve any problems we encountered.” [Student and Collaborator]