Circular Economy (5 ECTS)

Learning outcomes

The student understands contemporary debates and challenges around sustainability and circular economy. The student recognizes the interrelated elements that contribute to sustainable business practices & circular economy, and can pinpoint the growth & business opportunities in them.

The course pulls together the skills related to creative & innovative solution building including problem solving, project management, systems thinking, design thinking together with sustainability knowledge and business knowledge. The course also trains the skills of communicating about sustainability and circular economy via the opportunity lenses.

Content

- Key concepts in Circular economy: lifecycle thinking and sustainable design
- Growth vs. prosperity without growth and its opportunities; business cases and innovations in Circular economy
- Global sustainability challenges and targets from the perspective of Circular economy.

Assignment outline:
The students brainstorm selected sustainability challenges to develop (or test) solutions based on life-cycle modelling & Circular economy principles. They report the results orally (in teams) and individually (in written blogs/diary format) based on a small-scale project done during the course.

Prerequisites

Completed Higher Education Degree.

Teaching methods

The student understands circular economy related business practices, opportunities and challenges. The course combines problem solving, project management, system and design thinking capabilities in development of circular business models. Small group discussions and work support identification of circular business opportunities.

Location and time

ONLINE

Learning materials and recommended literature

Stahel, Walter R. (2019). The User´s Guide to Circular Economy (available as e-book)
Re, B. (2024) Value Co-Creation Processes in Circular Firms. Beyond Organization Boundaries (available as e-book)
Sillanpää, M. and Ncibi, C. (2019). The Circular Economy: Case Studies about the Transition from the Linear Economy (available as e-book)
Course material and additional reading recommendations in moodle

Exam dates and retake possibilities

Assignments 100%, no exam

Student workload

Lectures 5 x 3h= 15 h
Self study and assigments 112 h
Total appr. 127 h (5 ETCS)

Further information for students

Language of instruction is english.

Assessment methods and criteria

Assigments 100%

Evaluation scale

0-5

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

Sufficient performance: has completed basic requirements to pass the course and has made an attempt to apply and articulate concepts and information both verbally and in writing but has not made enough effort overall. The student has demonstrated little effort, interest and motivation for individual or team activities / assignments and the output is rather weak.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

Good overall performance: can apply and articulate concepts and information well both verbally and in writing, certain areas of individual or team output require further attention; shows appropriate level of interest and motivation in individual and team activities. Good presentation delivery and analysis.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

Excellent performance in all elements of the course: shows interest and motivation in individual and team activities and assignments, fully applies and clearly articulates concepts and information both verbally and in writing. The student is able to support his/her argument with references to the recommended reading and lecture content. Excellent presentation delivery and analysis.

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Sufficient performance: has completed basic requirements to pass the course and has made an attempt to apply and articulate concepts and information both verbally and in writing but has not made enough effort overall. The student has demonstrated little effort, interest and motivation for individual or team activities / assignments and the output is rather weak.