Promoting the Global Exchange of Ideas on Sustainable Goals, Practices and Cultural Diversity (ProGlobe) is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural student project between Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University (H-BRS) in Germany, the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (IPV) in Portugal, Fanshawe College (FC) in Canada and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in the USA.

This virtual exchange provides students the opportunity to gain knowledge and foster global diversity by collaborating virtually with other students in Europe and North America. The project aims to encourage communication among all four countries to raise awareness of the impact of environmental and social issues around the globe. Students evaluate, discuss, and reflect on their own sustainable practices and share ideas on relevant global topics. The vision of this project is to offer students the opportunity to work in a global context and to understand global issues from different cultural perspectives while working against misconceptions and generalizations.

As sustainability has become increasingly important, students explore their own sustainable footprints and reflect on the use of resources in a personal and global context. Each student conducts interviews with students from each partner university to discuss environmental issues in six categories: “food”, “water”, “waste”, “transportation”, “energy” and “health, safety and well-being”. At the end of the project, students attend and present their findings at in a virtual conference.

ProGlobe shows the advantage of offering virtual opportunities so that students can learn from each other to better understand the world we live in and gain international exposure without leaving their institution.