During the COVID-19 pandemic, social inequality and societal incoherence demonstrably increased. They became more visible, mainly through negative communication, fake news, disinformation and cyber-bullying. Such development is reflected in many European countries. Furthermore, recent scientific studies suggest that general societal behaviour, habits, and attitudes that grew out of social media impact the universities and significantly affect scholarly communication.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities have moved many of their activities online. As a result, university teachers are the focus of attention, as they should be role models of trustful, respectful and encouraging communication. Therefore, media literacy must be a universal part of university teacher competence. However, while media literacy has a strong tradition in social work, pedagogics, and youth work practice, there is a lack of imparting these competencies within the broader higher education environment.

However, there is little knowledge of students’ and faculty’s media consumption and media creation habits. Moreover, universities are not sufficiently networked with the broader civil society, youth groups, and cultural and civic initiatives. For these reasons, cyberbullying poses a double risk. Young people and students can fall victim to it, but they can also become cyberbullies themselves. Consequently, it is necessary to focus on the relationship between the media and youth culture and the digital media skills of young people. The latter relates not only to the use of technology but also to the development of cognitive resources that critically evaluate information.

This project calls for educational literacy confined to acquiring skills and developing a critical structure for understanding social, economic, and communication contexts.