Implementing Sustainability in the Curriculum of Universities

Evolving higher education policy, and the production of guidelines and frameworks by higher education authorities, aim to support universities embed education for sustainability and reflect recognition of the need to prepare graduates for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. Yet, advances have been limited. This chapter examines developments underway at the University of Bedfordshire, offering insights for ways forward which are distinct from prevailing institutional management processes. It presents the work of a community of practice, created by a group of academics from a spectrum of disciplines. Here, core players from this ‘Sustainability Forum’ describe their community, activities and synergies with the wider University. The authors highlight the learning opportunities they generated by their collective actions resulting in curriculum developments and enhancements. These served their own undergraduate and postgraduate students, other groups within the university community and beyond. As such the chapter serves as a case study of what can be achieved by an informal group of highly motivated academics in a new university. The authors conclude by considering the value of this model to other institutional contexts, especially in the context of the constraints imposed by expanding external performative initiatives and quality processes.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are composed from a variety of universal goals. They come with a heavy load on ethical demands while they do not provide any ethical guidance. One possibility to fill this void is to teach the SDGs with a faith-based narrative. Grown out of a workshop by Bread for World we will present our approach of Ownership-inspired Behavior-driven development, which is a strategy for an e-learning governance to introduce an Android app to support e-learning on the SDGs in theological education in remote areas in the Global South. Our goal is to develop a governance strategy for higher theological education to fill the SDGs with a faith-based narrative by using e-learning technology. Based on the staircase curriculum for the education of future church leaders developed by the British FBO Relay Trust we introduce the theoretical framework for this goal, which makes the transfer from a hierarchical governance structure found in many African societies into a dynamic e-learning framework.

This paper aims to outline and suggest an alternative pedagogy approach for teaching sustainable architecture theory within a studio-based environment, utilising the pedagogical methods for solving complex problems and applying ‘designerly thinking.’ Emphasising the qualities of a hybrid approach of electives and integration in an architectural education framework. It will reflect on understandings of architectural pedagogy and the integration of sustainability into architectural theory education. Beginning with a discussion of contemporary literature and policy concerning education for sustainability in architecture, it is accompanied by critical understandings of how architects synthesise different types of knowledge while designing, raising questions about the ‘match’ between theoretical educational experiences and subsequent behaviours in practice. Taking an example from Denmark, we outline the approach of Aarhus School of Architecture, where the majority of teaching occurs within design studio courses with short supplementary theory courses each year. During this pilot theory course, a direct observational study was made of 3rd-year architecture student during the two-week theory course on sustainable architecture theory to understand how they engage with the sustainable architecture discourse. The pedagogical approach involved multiple modes of learning including; participating in lectures, readings and documentaries followed by group work producing mapping, essay writing, and a final visual representation. The findings emphasise the importance of not only students’ personal critical reflection and active engagement but in order for students to find sustainable architecture theory engaging and relatable to their design practice. Additionally, students need to be supported in gaining different types of knowledge through different modes of learning.

This paper summarises the findings of research that explored the nature of the curriculum for sustainability within the field of Housing Studies at British universities. The aims of the research were to understand the attitudes of Housing academics to sustainability, to identify the factors that have influenced those attitudes, and to highlight ways in which the inclusion of environmental sustainability in the Housing curriculum can be encouraged. This paper outlines the key results of the research, which was based on an online survey and interviews with Housing academics and professionals across the UK. The paper argues that the nature and content of a sustainability curriculum within Housing courses is contingent upon a range of factors such as the individual research, teaching and professional backgrounds of academics, the existence or otherwise of support mechanisms or strategies for sustainability within universities, the position of professional bodies and employers and, indirectly, of national and devolved government policies. Housing Studies as a discipline is focused principally on the social and economic pillars of sustainability: Housing academics generally do not have a well-developed understanding of the environmental pillar, which few consider to be core to the Housing profession.

Since 2015, governments, businesses and civil society, together with the United Nations have been encouraged to work towards seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2017). In this context, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a special responsibility to embrace the SDGs as they educate the decision-maker of tomorrow. The aim of this paper is to give practical examples of how to embed the SDGs in the curriculum of an HEI by outlining the process of integrating the SDGs into the core curriculum at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). This includes, among others; a Future Thinking Learning Room: an innovative online resource library, discipline specific approaches, the use of the estate as a ‘Living Lab’, community case studies and investing in staff development. As a result, ESD no longer needs to be an afterthought when it comes to curriculum content, allowing it to be an easily achievable priority across all academic departments. This chapter may be of interest to those looking for inspiration and ways to embed the SDGs within Higher Education and beyond.

One of the major barriers to incorporating sustainability in the HE curriculum is its absence from the university sustainability strategy, the annual reflection of which is the annual sustainability report. While strategies specify targets, reports record what has already been achieved. In that respect, reports function as internally created reviews of universities’ sustainability activity. Various reviews of sustainability teaching activity have taken place in the UK HE sector. The current study attempts to explore formal sustainability teaching provision exclusively through HEIs’ annual sustainability reports. The sample consists of the most recent, whole-institution sustainability reports issued by UK HEIs from 2016 to 2018. An exploratory content analysis identifies sustainability curriculum coverage patterns, using a coding frame based on the STARS framework. Findings suggest that of the 167 UK HEIs 4% report on their sustainability curriculum provision comprehensively. The findings might be of interest to sustainability professionals in the reporting or the curriculum provision end. The study hopes to encourage wider coverage of sustainability curriculum provision in HE sustainability reports.

Examining transformative pedagogical developments which make use of discomfort and criticality, including the suggestion of ‘brave spaces’, this paper asks how Higher Education might make use of challenge, uncertainty, risk and discomfort in teaching and learning about sustainability. Beginning with an overview of discomfort and uncertainty in relation to the field of sustainability education and transformative learning, the paper moves on to consider the potential for developing a relational education which draws inspiration from the natural (non-human) world aligned with the approaches of ecotherapy. In the second section, the paper discusses the opportunities and assertions arising for Higher Education practice including: making use of ‘brave spaces’; encouraging ‘challenge by choice’; developing divergent and pluralistic thinking; cultivating a connection in natural environments and considering the ‘student satisfaction’ agenda in Higher Education in the UK. Finally, the paper concludes with recognition of some of the ethical and institutional barriers to an implementation of discomfort, ‘brave spaces’ and relational pedagogies. This paper is intended as a provocation for practitioners and aims to signpost the opportunities for developing a more responsive, critical and daring approach to sustainability education.

In the frame of higher education, the Teaching-Research-Practice Nexus (TRPN) considers an equal linking of the subjects to achieve sustainability in applied teaching through a holistic framework, which generally refers to the “research-teaching-practice triangle” according to Kaplan (Account Horiz: 129–132, 1989). The methodology underlines the challenges associated with a Nexus approach: the topics to be linked, their linking mechanisms and the respective communication mechanisms. The present investigation results are based on a data collection through an international questionnaire at institutions of Higher Education. Although there are already courses on sustainability theories at several universities, there is still room for development in terms of the transfer of experiences from projects on sustainable development outside the academic sector gained over the last few years. Governmental agencies, NGO’s and the private sector started already implementing practical solutions for sustainable urban planning and development, whose results and experiences should be multiplied in academic teaching. This concerns, for instance, subjects like the ecological footprint, integrated resource management, circular economy and ecosystem services. This contribution discusses the options for the implementation of the TRPN in an international context, and opportunities for universities to become more sustainable by using a balanced proportion of teaching, research, and practice.

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is defined as the knowledge and skills ‘needed to work and live in a way that safeguards environmental, social and economic wellbeing, both in the present and for future generations’. Skills for sustainable development include critical thinking, creative thinking, systems thinking and leadership. Over the last decades, there has been efforts across the world to embed ESD into the curriculum. In European Union (EU) countries, some higher education have made efforts to align education strategies with international and national ESD frameworks. A cursory review of the literature seems to indicate that dissemination and implementation of the international ESD frameworks in Latin America has been slow and sporadic. Although there are some signs to implement ESD into curricula of countries such as Brazil and Colombia, these practices have not been substantial or have not permeated higher education sustainable development strategies. This paper aims to explore the developments of ESD in Latin America. As a first step to explore these developments, it intends to survey and map the current ESD processes in eight higher education institutions of four Latin American Countries: Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The paper also aims to compare ESD developments with some leading EU higher education institutions in ESD with the view to develop a dialogue between the two regions. These will lead to strategies in which ESD processes can be adopted/adapted with benefits in both directions; it will also create, foster and develop mechanisms that will ensure a sustainable culture of ESD in higher education in both regions. Results of the exploratory survey of a sample of higher education institutions in Latin America are reported.

Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Finland works closely with economic life and makes studies authentic by using Open Innovation Space learning. In this spirit, ABOWE biorefinery project and the related educational links served as a concrete tool for teaching sustainable development. Savonia invested in a mobile biorefinery pilot plant, which is based on the research of Finnoflag Oy, Finland. In this biorefinery plant solution, biodegradable wastes are valorized to platform chemical and energy products with the aid of microbes and their enzymes. The process is carried out in the same way as the circulation is taking place in the Nature. However, skilled personnel are required for conducting the process runs. Therefore, the engineering, construction and testing of the mobile biorefinery pilot plant served as an excellent opportunity for educating engineers to encounter the basics of biological industrial processes. The interdisciplinary project also provided means for learning from each other in a practical way. ABOWE has been positively evaluated for its multisector approach and for involving students and personnel from many educational organizations in the cooperation. Sustainable development was clearly a through-cutting principle during the project. This chapter aims to give an example of how a multidisciplinary development project can act as an educational tool for teaching sustainable development for the participant students as well as a part of continuing education for the personnel.

This paper is a response to the need for teachers in higher and further education to better engage students in learning about the urgent but complex issues of sustainable development and responsible business practice and applying that learning in a range of disciplines. The potential of higher education (HE) to address these challenges through creativity is highlighted alongside emerging challenges for the HE sector. Undertaking creativity in teaching in practice is explored through the ‘I Love Learning’ Project (I♥L), an interdisciplinary project aiming to encourage creativity in teaching as a means to motivate and inspire students, supported by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The contribution of first and second person action research methods to the development of creativity in higher education is examined. Drawing from practice, the paper offers two models employing extended ways of knowing to categorise creative interventions and suggests a ‘creativity map’ as a model to identify different elements of learning, presenting feedback from students on how the initiatives were received and providing some reflections on quality in the creativity initiatives undertaken. The paper argues for a participatory action research model to grow creativity in higher education through a self-organising structure, imagining ‘creativity greenhouses’ as a model. The paper draws the threads together to highlight creativity’s role in teaching sustainability and responsible enterprise and offers practice based insights. The authors are colleagues from different disciplines, working together in a co-operative inquiry to identify ways to make learning more creative.

Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for Inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. We have enough reasons to believe that education has significant bearing on others SDGs. This brings the issue of curriculum development to the core of sustainable development. Among all the disciplines, Social Work carries specific importance, primarily because the competence of Social Work Practitioners will have direct impact on the pursuit of SDGs. Hence there has been a realization that curriculum planning for social work education need to be suitably aligned to the requirements of Sustainable Development Goals. It will equip the Social Workers with required skills and competencies to work with the target communities. Furthermore, SDGs have created new opportunities for social workers to advance their professional pursuits in a global perspective. There is need to identify such new opportunities for social work professionals, incorporate them in their professional curriculum and create pedagogical tools to connect to new target groups of Social Work Education. It will equip the social workers to effectively deal with the concerns of SDGs while working with target communities. This study reviews the existing research literature and identifies the new ingredients for curriculum planning for social work education. An indicative framework has been presented for the curriculum development for Social Work profession.

This paper explores a pedagogic case study, which embeds academic research activity into a masters level unit of study. Students were invited to work alongside the LiFE ‘Living in Future Ecologies’ research group at Manchester School of Art to collaboratively investigate themes for sustainable development within a city context. Pomona Island, a brownfield site on the boarders of Manchester, Salford and Trafford presented a context for complex issues of local government, and questions of international relevance on resilience and responsible urban planning. Through learning about the landscape and sensitive ecology of the island, students and researchers explored notions of context, climate, visions for future living, the opportunities and the responsibility of art and design practices in steering social reasoning within a neoliberal system. This paper presents a carefully considered enquiry-based framework, analysing academic questioning that has enabled the transformation of the ephemeral and immaterial into a methodology to address misguided political agendas. The paper articulates the different methods used to embed research practice in the learning environment. This type of project also fully illustrates innovative learning and teaching methods as ways in which art and design practices can uniquely engage with and stimulate thinking to influence and nurture change. Through presenting responses from a psychogeographical walk for Manchester European City of Science in July 2016, a conversational, transformative tool for learning was developed. Reflections on the project further evaluate the multi-disciplinary interpretations, already collated in a collaborative publication with the Pomona community and publisher Gaia Project.

In June 2014 the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) published their education for sustainable development guidance for higher education. The guidance is a tool for supporting educators in embedding or including knowledge, understanding and awareness of sustainable development across the curriculum by identifying graduate learning outcomes and outlining approaches to teaching, learning and assessment. The purpose of the guidance is to help higher education institutions in training sustainability literate graduates who will contribute to an environmentally and ethically responsible society through the application of their skills, knowledge and experience. The guidance is now some 30 months old, which leads us to pose the question: to what extent has the UK higher education sector adopted and implemented the guidance in its curricula? A systematic web-based analysis has been performed of 139 higher education institutions’ websites to identify the use of the guidance in the public web environments of UK higher education, especially regarding the design, delivery and review of curricula. To what extent do UK universities reference the role of ESD or the guidance in the specification of the graduate learning outcomes and the approaches to teaching, learning and assessment? In analysing the web environments for guidance related content we have also identified the presence of general information relating to estates sustainability and to general ESD concepts. In presenting the results a comparison is made between institutions, which contributed to the guidance and the rest of the sector. The analysis shows that 120 institutions provide information about estate sustainability, 82 general information on ESD, but only 16 institutions make public statements about their use of the QAA and HEA guidance for ESD. As such, this study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the presence of sustainability, and specifically ESD and the QAA and HEA guidance, in the online platforms of universities and colleges. This paper will share the results of the study with the UK higher education sector and in so doing hopes to encourage HEIs to engage with ESD by integrating it in their curricula.

Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) has produced a curriculum review tool to help teaching staff and programme directors identify the four core components of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), as defined by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) ESD guidance: Global Citizenship; Environmental Stewardship; Social Justice, Ethics and Well-being and Futures Thinking. The review tool was designed in order to realise the University’s strategic aim ‘to support curriculum innovation so that all students have the opportunity to engage with sustainability related issues relevant to their discipline and chosen field of work’ (CCCU Sustainability Framework 2015a), to be used by programme teams to identify sustainability content that is already present, and to support opportunities for curriculum innovation and development. This paper explores the process of creating the ESD review tool at CCCU and results of carrying out a pilot review on the Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care, within the faculty of Health and Wellbeing. By using the mapping tool, it became apparent that the concept of sustainability was present within the Foundation Degree, however it was not explicit. Its use motivated team members to question their own contribution to creating a more sustainable future. It has been noted that although climate change poses the most serious threat to global health in the 21st Century, for health professionals the threat seems removed and distant. Realization seems to challenge individuals to explore the potential posed by the theme. Results indicate the importance of allowing academic staff the time and space to think and talk, so that engagement with the topic is possible. They also identify a need to re-frame sustainability to evoke positive emotions, capitalising on the things that can be achieved, rather than creating a sense of enormity that results in disempowerment. By sharing the findings of a review of ESD curriculum mapping exercises; of the opportunities and hardships involved in developing CCCU’s mapping tool; and the experience gained by piloting such tool, this paper will assist other universities that are interested in exploring the scope of ESD in their own curriculum.

Empirical evidence suggests that educational approaches to climate change remain limited, fragmented, and locked into disciplinary boundaries. The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of an innovative unifying, boundary-crossing approach to developing climate literacy. Methodologically, the study combined a literature review with an action research based approach related to delivering a Climate Change Project conducted in a mid-sized university in England. Findings suggest the approach created a unifying vision for action, and did so across multiple boundaries, including disciplinary (e.g. psychology, engineering, business), professional services (e.g. academic, library, information technology), and identity (e.g. staff, student, employee). The project generated a number of outcomes including extensive faculty level climate change resources, plans for innovative mobile applications to engage people in climate literacy, and new infrastructural arrangements to continue the development of practice and research in climate change. This paper outlines empirical insights in order to inform the design, development, and continuity of other unifying, boundary-crossing approaches to climate literacy.

This paper will discuss the methods used to identify the baseline status of sustainability in the curriculum of UWE Bristol programmes and to begin to assess the contribution which the university is making towards the objectives outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Further, it will consider how this knowledge will inform future curriculum development and research activities within the institution and future tracking thereof. The experience of UWE Bristol in engaging with the SDGs is likely to be of use to other institutions (in higher education or elsewhere) who are similarly aiming to contribute positively to sustainable development. UWE has undertaken a baseline assessment of its engagement with issues highlighted in the SDGs. Alignment between the SDGs and the primary disciplinary focus of each of the university’s faculties has already been identified, as has alignment between the core themes of the institution’s Sustainability Plan and the SDGs. The next phase of this process involves an examination of UWE’s portfolio of programmes of study, its public and community engagement and its research activities with respect to the extent to which they contribute to the achievement of the Goals. The university has begun a programme of mapping the curriculum against the SDGs which will enable this offer to be enhanced and made more comprehensive in terms of the scope and level of visibility of sustainability issues embedded in programme design and delivery. The disciplines of midwifery, environmental science and public health have already been comprehensively assessed whilst accounting and finance, geography, and computer science are in the final stages of assessment. Other UWE disciplines will be assessed over the 2016/17 academic year.

This paper describes a postgraduate course taught for several years and outlines how this aimed to enlighten and empower students and increase their understanding of accounting and its purpose. First some key concepts are discussed: the purpose of education, pedagogy and accountability. Then the course is described in detail, finishing with some reflections. Enlightened students expect more from accounts; they see them as society or multi-stakeholder orientated and potential indicators of a need for change, rather than as a historical narrative claiming to substantiate the efficient use of resources. In the spirit of interpretive accounting research as discussed by Ahrens et al. (Critical Perspectives on Accounting 19: 840–866, 2008) this paper is offered in the hope it helps other educators develop their understanding of how we can enlighten, and empower, our students whilst making them more aware of their role in building a sustainable future.

Universities are expected to contribute to transforming societies towards sustainable development by proving transdisciplinary knowledge and to educate and prepare students for their future roles as decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and academics. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the integration of sustainability aspects into a master course program at a German university, to share experiences and to inform and motivate other educators to also “walk the talk”. The article provides insight into the approach taken to integrate sustainability aspects into the didactical concept such as the instrument of learning diaries or the implementation of problem-based learning modules. Furthermore the article introduces the specific way of quality assurance and evaluation which is used to structure the continual improvement of the master courses. It is shown on one hand, that the combination of all of these elements is necessary to ensure ESD in a holistic way. On the other hand this demands high standards of the lecturers, which is why a didactic consulting partnership was established to accompany this process with various offers for self-improvement, which are finally presented. Highlights of the papers are: a set of competencies of a sustainability manager and an overview to related modules in the study program, a description on pedagogical and didactical instruments (learning diaries, PBL related instruments such as case study work and theory-praxis transfers, colloquia with industry partners), insights into the approach of quality assurance and continual improvement (i.e. evaluation, several formats of didactical consultations).

This conclusions paper summarises the main development and trends related to sustainable development teaching and outlines future research needs.