IKD i<sup>3</sup> strategy
The University of the Basque Country approved its own IKD education model in 2010, just as the community Higher Education policy came into force. Since then it has implemented a number of institutional programmes to foster active, innovative methodologies, assist elementary and advanced educational innovation teams, train and stimulate the educational development of its lecturers, assess teaching activity, and accredit qualifications and centres. Management tools and support and orientation materials have been developed amid a large amount of common construction work.
In addition to mandatory monitoring processes, the results were measured specifically on two occasions. This was done in 2016 by means of the "EHUn bizi" Survey by the Teaching Assessment Service on students finishing the course (3,437 students; 54.82%); and in 2019 through the University of the Basque Country's Transversal Competences Report conducted by the Practicums and Employability Department on teaching and coordination units. The results demonstrate that the work carried out illustrates the gains perceived by the students in terms of relevant transversal competences, but also point out the need to seek new innovative formulas to drive development of advanced and complex transversal competences (critical thought, leadership, creativity, sustainability, multilingualism and multiculturalism).
One initial step in this direction was the publication of the UPV/EHU Catalogue of Transversal Competences (2019), which establishes eight competences that are common to all the University of the Basque Country's degree qualifications
The UPV/EHU's own educational model has also undergone a review to bring it into line with modern pedagogical trends and the aforementioned political priorities of Europe. The result is IKD i3 (“i to the power of three”: learning ("ikaskuntza" in Basque) x research ("ikerkuntza") x sustainability ("iraunkortasuna"), which means multiplying learning by research and by sustainability, i.e. exponential growth of each of the terms, ushering in processes and products hitherto unknown
UPV/EHU has the greatest research capacity in the Basque Country, with more than 290 research teams operational in all areas of knowledge. It has a high environment transfer capacity, and competitive master's and doctorate programmes; this research and transfer capital must have more fluid links to degree qualifications, especially the undergraduate and master's degrees, because we believe that deepening complex competences means adding knowledge of how to conduct research, inquiry and innovation to basic desirable competences for all students. There is no better opportunity for carrying out this task than the University of the Basque Country, and this has already been borne out by a number of specific experiences.
Sustainability is the third component of this exponential formula, because we believe that learning capacity multiplied by research capacity is not enough if the planet's biggest challenges are not placed in the cross wires, and at this point in time its biggest challenges are the SDGs. Thus these ideas and these areas of tension must be part of the mindsets and actions of all those involved with the university community, they must structure courses, subjects, programmes, practicums, labs, mobility and conversations with the social, economic, environmental and cultural environment.
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