In the face of growing challenges to democracy, higher education has a critical role in equipping students with competences for active and responsible citizenship. However, ensuring that students develop competences for democratic culture requires more than traditional classroom teaching. It demands active, experiential learning approaches that connect academic knowledge with real-world societal challenges. Despite the policy recommendations and the urgency of these issues, higher education in Europe still lacks systematic approaches to integrate democratic competences in curricula and civic education remains a peripheral activity in many European universities.

Service-learning is a proven methodology to enhance students’ academic learning and to cultivate a sense of responsibility, solidarity and social commitment. By engaging students in real-world problem-solving with local communities, service-learning fosters critical democratic competences such as dialogue, cooperation, ethical reasoning and the ability to address complex societal challenges. Research has demonstrated the potential of service-learning in fostering democratic competences in secondary education and its civic outcomes are well documented globally. Yet, this potential remains underexplored mainly in European higher education institutions. The SL4DC project seeks to bridge this gap by positioning service-learning as a strategic and evidence-based approach to strengthen competences for  democratic culture in European higher education.