Circular economy 15 credits

In the circular economy module (15 ECTS), the student will develop skills needed in working life in addition to the fact-based content of the course. This includes customer oriented approach in addition to skills of collaboration and project management. The objective is that the students can apply all of this into practise when encouraged to learn in a new way.

The module is divided into three periods:

• PERIOD I: The principles of circular economy
• PERIOD II: The methods of circular economy
• PERIOD III: Circular economy in practise

The student can understand the possibilities of sustainable use of limited resources that the globe has (metals, minerals, energy sources, water, soil, wood resources, clean air and biodiversity).

To increase resource efficiency, the student can see these actions possible:

• Designing new products and services
• Minimizing the amount of waste emerging
• Managing resources in a more efficient way
• Changing consuming habits
• New business models
• Optimizing production processes
• Enhancing logistics
• Different ways of administration and finance

After completing the module, the student can:

• Operate in a team including members from various fields
• Apply ideas learned from others
• Think in a customer oriented way
• Operate in situations of presentation and interaction
• Operate independently using external networks and resources
• Basic skills of project management

Concrete tools that will be learned in the course:

• LCA, principles of life cycle calculation
• Principles of material mapping
• BMC, the use of business planning tool
• Principles of FISS-database