Curriculum

Introduction

One of the primary functions of colleges and universities is to educate students. By training and educating future leaders, scholars, workers, and professionals; higher education institutions are uniquely positioned to understand and address sustainability challenges. Institutions that offer courses covering sustainability issues help equip their students to lead society to a sustainable future.

7980 resources

Trans-Disciplinary Education for Sustainable Marine and Coastal Management: A Case Study in Taiwan

The present study aims to investigate the effect of a trans-disciplinary design of curricula, deemed a powerful tool for teaching and research on complex environmental problems, with a goal to ...


Contemplative Approaches to Sustainability in Higher Education: Theory and Practice

How do we foster in college students the cognitive complexity, ethical development, and personal resolve that are required for living in this "sustainability century"? Tackling these complex and highly interdependent ...


When the informal is the formal, the implicit is the explicit: Holistic sustainability education at Green Mountain College

  • Green Mountain College (VT)

Purpose - The purpose of this project is to provide an account of the student experience at a higher education institution known for its holistic approach to sustainability education.

Design/methodology ...


The interrelations between competences for sustainable development and research competences

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how competences for sustainable development and research interrelate within a context of competence-based higher education. Specific focus is oriented towards strengthening ...


A sustainability education academic development framework (SEAD)

  • RMIT University

Academic development is one means of reorientating education within higher education (HE) to include sustainability principles. This paper identifies the requirements of academic development programs that will provide educators with ...


Graduate Certificate in Environmental Assessment and Management

  • Murdoch University (Western Australia)

This multidisciplinary program is designed to provide environmental professionals with an introductory understanding of the policies, procedures and techniques of environmental management through practically-oriented study. It will be relevant to ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Environmental Management and Sustainability

  • Murdoch University (Western Australia)

In this program, students learn to link management decisions with local, regional and global sustainability initiatives. They are equipped to develop clear alternatives for professional organisations to secure a sustainable ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Certificate of Specialization in Energy and Clean Technology Law

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)

JD and LLM (traditional track) students are eligible to earn this certificate, which encourages students to develop a broad background in fundamental areas of the law while receiving advanced training ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Certificate of Specialization in Environmental Law

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)

JD and LLM (traditional track) students are eligible to earn this certificate, which provides a specialized curricular program to ensures that students develop a broad background in fundamental areas of ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science

  • University of Houston - Clear Lake (TX)

This program uses an interdisciplinary approach to prepare students for opportunities in the private sector and in governmental agencies where environmental issues are being addressed. Graduates of the plan will ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Bachelor of Science (BS) in Environmental Management

  • University of Houston - Clear Lake (TX)

The Bachelor of Science (BS) in Environmental Management is designed as a flexible curriculum that meets the needs of full-time students and practicing professionals. By selecting approved electives in fields ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Master of Science in Environmental Science

  • University of Houston - Clear Lake (TX)

This program is available in face to face format or online. Students in the face-to-face program must choose one of the five specializations when they apply:

  • Environmental Biology
  • Environmental Geology ...
  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Master of Science in Environmental Management

  • University of Houston - Clear Lake (TX)

This program is designed to meet the needs of full-time students as well as practicing professionals. Students are able to tailor their degree to their professional needs by selecting approved ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Environmental Management Certificate

  • University of Houston - Clear Lake (TX)

The Certificate in Environmental Management is designed for professionals in the environmental management field who wish to update their skills without going for another master's degree. Certificates can be ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Geography and Environmental Management

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

Students in this program explore the world and the people, places, and cultures that make it such a diverse place. They learn about climate change, landforms, natural hazards, global population ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Environment, Resources and Sustainability

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

Students in this program will use insights from the natural, physical, and social sciences to help solve some of the world’s biggest environmental challenges, from water and food, to ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Environment and Business

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

In this program, students gain a background in ecology, environmental economics, and environmental decision-making while developing expertise in finance, project management, accounting, marketing, and law. The program integrates environmental and ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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PhD in Social and Ecological Sustainability

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

The PhD program in School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability (SERS) is devoted to understanding and pursuing sustainability in a dynamic and complex world, and to considering and integrating understanding ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Master of Environmental Studies in Sustainability Management (MES)

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

The Sustainability Management graduate program is committed to providing future environmental leaders with the research skills, management tools, strategies and processes required to realize sustainable outcomes within business, government and ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Master of Environmental Studies in Environment, Resources and Sustainability (MES)

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

The Masters program in Environment, Resources and Sustainability provides a mix of transdisciplinary understanding and problem-solving combined with the ability to focus on a narrower problem or issue.

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Master of Environment and Business

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

The Master of Environment and Business (MEB) is a program aimed at meeting the growing need for business sustainability professionals as a distinct group of knowledgeable, skilled, confident and motivated ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Master of Climate Change

  • University of Waterloo (ON)

The University of Waterloo’s Master of Climate Change (MCC) program focuses on the multiple ways climate change interacts with society and the environment. The MCC program provides a unique ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Environmental Studies (BA)

  • Ferrum College (VA)

The Environmental Studies program prepares graduates for a career and for graduate study in the broad field of environmental studies and sustainable development. The program uses a multidisciplinary systems approach ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Graduate Certificate of Education for Sustainability

  • James Cook University (Queensland)

This qualification develops skills and knowledge in sustainability and enables students to communicate these skills in educational settings. This course is relevant to teachers, trainers, school leaders, administrators, and others ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Graduate Certificate of Science in Sustainability

  • James Cook University (Queensland)

This program requires 4 courses related to sustainability science.

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Bachelor of Environmental Practice

  • James Cook University (Queensland)

This program is designed to empower students to solve sustainability challenges. It provides a broad understanding of the operative and management interactions between the biological, physical, social, economic and political ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Master of Education in Sustainability

  • James Cook University (Queensland)

The Sustainability major in the Master of Education program develops enables students to communicate and innovate sustainability education programs in formal and informal education. This program is relevant to teachers ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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An international Master's program in green ICT as a contribution to sustainable development

Various principles of sustainable development are currently being integrated into national policies and programs. Such principles relate to a range of aspects of human activities requiring urgent attention, including heating ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
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Making the invisible visible: how students make use of carbon footprint calculator in environmental education

  • University of Gothenburg

Problems concerning carbon dioxide emissions and other climate change-related issues are on the global political agenda and constantly debated in media. Such issues are important for individuals to enable active ...

  • Posted Oct. 28, 2016
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Development of a hands-on toolkit to support integration of ecodesign in engineering programmes

In recent years, the integration of sustainable development in higher education has received a growing amount of attention. During the last decade, initiatives have aimed at integrating sustainable development at ...

  • Posted Oct. 28, 2016
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Prophetic Nomadism: An Art School Sustainability-Oriented Educational Aim?

This discursive article proposes that the learning and teaching regimes provided within art school are uniquely placed within higher education to foster nomads. It suggests, however, that nomadism is not ...

  • Posted Oct. 25, 2016
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UTRGV Students on campus going to class

  • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (TX)

UTRGV students represent a broad spectrum of individuals interested in different aspects of sustainable development in a variety of fields. The University has active student organizations that work to make ...


Teaching Climate Change in the Humanities

Climate change is an enormous and increasingly urgent issue. This important book highlights how humanities disciplines can mobilize the creative and critical power of students, teachers, and communities to confront ...

  • Posted Oct. 20, 2016
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Global Studies BA

  • University of South Carolina (SC)

The Global Studies major is a flexible, interdisciplinary degree that familiarizes students with the complex historical and contemporary relationships and processes that link together people and places. By focusing on ...

  • Posted Oct. 20, 2016
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The Master of Sustainability Leadership Program at ASU

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

The Master of Sustainability Leadership (MSL) degree at Arizona State University will prepare professionals to advance social and environmental responsibility. The program teaches organizational leadership skills through the lens of ...

  • Posted Oct. 13, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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Sustainability and Built Environment: The role of Higher Education in Architecture and Building Engineering

The sustainability paradigm implies a cultural shift in order to really change the world and society. Education, and specifically higher education, plays the crucial role of preparing students to be ...

  • Posted Oct. 13, 2016
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A Guide for Applied Sustainability Learning Projects: Advancing sustainability outcomes on campus and in the community

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Portland State University (OR)
  • AASHE (PA)

This guide provides a step-by-step framework for how a new or existing applied learning for sustainability program can be systematically designed, built and scaled around two interconnected goals:

  1. Providing students ...

Learning and Skills for Sustainable Development: Developing a sustainability literate society

The purpose of this publication is to help higher education institutions to integrate sustainability literacy into the curriculum of their learning programmes.The approach and tools suggested in this guide ...


Employer attitudes towards, and skills for, sustainable development

  • National Union of Students
  • Higher Education Academy (York)

This report describes the results of an online survey of employers in the U.K. about sustainable development. Overall, employers believed the range of skills for sustainability to be important ...


Leadership Skills for a Sustainable Economy

Based on a survey of sustainability staff at member companies of The Prince of Wales’s Mayday Network on Climate Change and also member companies of Business in the Community ...


Cultivating an Academy We Can Live With: The Humanities and Education for Sustainability

  • Wake Forest University (NC)

Many facets of the university system in North America are fundamentally unsustainable, developing and perpetuating knowledge practices that not only do not sustain the biospheric conditions in which our species ...


Dissonance in students' perceptions of sustainable development and sustainability: Implications for curriculum change

  • University of Plymouth (Devon)

Purpose – An online questionnaire survey was conducted to explore University of Plymouth students' perceptions and understandings of, and attitudes towards, sustainable development and related concepts and issues. In general, student ...


Student Perceptions of Sustainability Education in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)

For sustainable engineering to contribute to sustainability, curricular reforms are needed to train sustainability-conscious engineers. Examining student perceptions of sustainability education can provide insights for benchmarking the current quality of ...


Sustainability Studies BA in Liberal Arts

  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)

The Sustainability Studies B.A. in Liberal Arts is designed to provide a rigorous and focused study of sustainability methods and content and simultaneously allow a student to complete all ...

  • Posted Sept. 29, 2016
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Hands-On LEED: Guiding College Student Engagement

  • U.S. Green Building Council (DC)

As college and university leaders from across the United States work to green their campuses, students can and should play a critical role. Hands-On LEED: Guiding College Student Engagement explains ...

  • Posted Sept. 26, 2016
  • Publications
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Professional Master’s Degree in Energy & Environment

  • Boston University (MA)

The professional master’s degree in Energy & Environment provides a professional training degree for the student with an undergraduate degree in the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities ...

  • Posted Sept. 26, 2016
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MSc in Environmental Psychology

  • University of Surrey

The MSc in Environmental Psychology programme helps students gain advanced knowledge and understanding of theory and practice in environmental psychology. Students will also acquire a range of research skills to ...

  • Posted Sept. 26, 2016
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Paul Quinn College Transforms Football Field to Organic Farm, Shifting Value to Students

  • Paul Quinn College (TX)

At Paul Quinn College, where 83 percent of students are Pell Grant eligible (2016), students obtain both a liberal arts education and real-world work experience. This video showcases the historically ...

  • Posted Sept. 20, 2016
  • Videos & Webinars
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Study Abroad Initiatives at Oregon State University

  • Oregon State University (OR)

Grace Burleson teaches a group of people in Uganda during her internship. Kendra Sharp uses some locally made tools in Chennai, India.

  • Posted Sept. 16, 2016
  • Photographs
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The Ohio State University

  • The Ohio State University (OH)

The Ohio State University selected three Discovery Theme programs that are working to promote the research, teaching and engagement surrounding sustainability issues and focus on critical societal needs. The three ...

  • Posted Sept. 15, 2016
  • Photographs
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.

All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.

AC 1: Academic Courses

AC 2: Learning Outcomes

AC 3: Undergraduate Program

AC 4: Graduate Program

AC 5: Immersive Experience

AC 6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

AC 7: Incentives for Developing Courses

AC 8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

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