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

The impact of globalization and environmental change on health: challenges for nurse education

The environment is an established domain of nursing knowledge, but some authors argue that the traditional perspective is too narrowly focused on the immediate environment to appreciate the relevance of ...


The health effects of climate change: What does a nurse need to know?

  • University of Plymouth (Devon)

The scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change has been established with increasing precision and there are widespread concerns about its potential to undermine the public health gains of the past ...


The ‘sustainability lens’: A framework for nurse education that is ‘fit for the future’

  • University of Nottingham

In this paper we describe and justify a framework for curriculum development that uses the concept of a sustainability lens. This is based on an understanding that we construct our ...


The need for a ‘sustainability curriculum’ in nurse education

  • University of Plymouth (Devon)

This paper addresses the imperative to address sustainability and climate change in nurse education. This will be done by outlining the socio-political and policy context and a discussion of a ...


Sustainability in nursing: a concept analysis

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe, explore and explain the concept of sustainability in nursing.

Background: Although researchers in nursing and medicine have emphasised the issue of ...


Beyond problem solving: Engineering and the public good in the 21st century

  • University of Sydney (NSW)

Problem solving is upheld as a defining feature of engineering identity, and the ability to solve problems is built into engineering curricula as a learning outcome and a graduate attribute ...


Incorporating Prerecorded Environmental Lifecycle Assessment Modules in a Classroom Setting

  • Washington State University, Pullman (WA)

Addition of sustainability-related material is becoming a point of emphasis in engineering education. Freely available modular lessons are one way to quickly effect this incorporation. This research examines the effectiveness ...

  • Posted July 28, 2016
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Using Concept Maps to Explore the Impacts of a Learning-Cycle-Based Sustainability Module Implemented in Two Institutional Contexts

  • Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
  • James Madison University (VA)
  • The Citadel (SC)

Because engineers are responsible for the design phase of projects where decisions impacting sustainability are most effectively made, it is important to ensure that students are equipped with the necessary ...

  • Posted July 28, 2016
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MS in Professional Science

  • Unity Environmental University (ME)

Learning to navigate the unpredictable waves of our globalized society places a pivotal degree of responsibility on aspiring leaders to develop skills necessary to be effective change agents. At America ...

  • Posted July 26, 2016
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Green Genome Institutional Self-Assessment Tool

  • American Association of Community Colleges (DC)

The Green Genome Institutional Self-Assessment Tool is a free tool designed to enable community colleges to quickly gauge how well they are leading and integrating sustainability and green workforce development ...


Sustainable MBA

  • Eastern Mennonite University (VA)

At EMU our purpose is to build students’ portfolios of management skills, leadership strengths, and stewardship strategies to enable our graduates, and their colleagues, to achieve greater success and to ...

  • Posted July 23, 2016
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Masters of the Environment Professional Graduate Program

  • University of Colorado Boulder (CO)

The Masters of the Environment (MENV) is a professional master’s degree program that is administered by the Environmental Studies Program, but partners with units and disciplines across the Boulder ...

  • Posted July 22, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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Reshaping the Education of Energy Managers

Newly educated Energy managers will play a key role in the unfolding global transition to renewable energy and sustainability. We describe a new approach to energy management education via a ...

  • Posted July 21, 2016
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A comparative review of policy and practice for education for sustainable development/education for global citizenship (ESD/GC) in teacher education across the four nations of the UK

The early 21st century has seen a period of extreme turbulence in education at all levels in the UK. Although education policy was administrated on a territorial basis before 1999 ...

  • Posted July 21, 2016
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Education for sustainability-challenges and opportunities: The case of RCEs

  • London South Bank University

This article will focus on the challenges of leadership and management of a key initiative of the 2005-2014 UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), namely the Regional Centres ...

  • Posted July 21, 2016
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Boldly Sustainable: Hope & Opportunity for Higher Education in the age of Climate Change

  • National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO) (DC)

Sustainability is a powerful strategy for higher education to achieve renewal, reformation, and relevance in the 21st century. Boldly Sustainable examines how colleges and universities can leverage their commitment to ...

  • Posted July 21, 2016
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Sustainable Mobility for the Future: Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Transportation Planning Course

  • Bucknell University (PA)

The field of transportation engineering has become more sustainable as challenges of the twenty-first century continue. Sustainable mobility topics such as pedestrian and cycling travel, smart growth development, and transit-oriented ...

  • Posted July 18, 2016
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Enhancing sustainability curricula through faculty learning communities

  • University of Vermont (VT)

Purpose

Although the number of higher education institutions adopting sustainability-focused faculty learning communities (FLCs) has grown, very few of these programs have published evaluation research. This paper aims to report ...

  • Posted July 18, 2016
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Sustainability Education: The What and How for Mathematics

  • Ithaca College (NY)

In this article we provide a simple way to think about the concept of sustainability and provide a number of examples for incorporating sustainability education into commonly taught mathematics courses ...

  • Posted July 13, 2016
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Foreign Languages and Sustainability: Addressing the Connections, Communities, and Comparisons Standards in Higher Education

  • Clarion University of Pennsylvania (PA)
  • Queen's University

This article describes an interdisciplinary collaboration that combined the study of German language with instruction in environmental issues (sustainable development). The project, involving both an independent study and a classroom ...

  • Posted July 13, 2016
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Composition and Sustainability: Teaching for a Threatened Generation

  • St. John's University, New York (NY)

While sustainability - meeting today’s needs without jeopardizing the interests of future generations - has become a dominating force in a range of disciplines, it has yet to play a substantive ...

  • Posted July 13, 2016
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The Greening of the Language Arts: Considering Sustainability Outside of the Science Classroom

  • Western Washington University (WA)

If the concept of sustainability is studied at all in middle or high school, chances are that study is taking place in the science classroom. After all, the topic of ...

  • Posted July 13, 2016
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Incorporating Global Sustainability in the Business Language Curriculum

  • San Diego State University (CA)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (CA)

“Providing food, water, energy and other human needs to the world's entire population without harming the environment is a formidable task,” according to Purdue University’s Global Sustainability Institute ...

  • Posted July 13, 2016
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Sustainability Pedagogies for the Business Language Classroom

  • George Washington University (DC)

Heightened urgency about the question of the earth’s survival has generated increased attention to how to teach sustainability across the curriculum. The business language course, positioned at the nexus ...

  • Posted July 13, 2016
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Sustainability Programming is an Ethical Obligation for Higher Education in the Environmental Century

  • Unity Environmental University (ME)

Development of a sustainable relationship with our natural resources is an imperative for any meaningful quality of life as climate change poses the ultimate test of our adaptability as a ...


Online Master of Advanced Study in Sustainable Tourism

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

Students in ASU's MAS in sustainable tourism receive a comprehensive education with a focus on the environmental, economic, and social aspects of tourism. Graduates are equipped with translatable skills ...

  • Posted July 7, 2016
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Transforming US higher education to support sustainability science for a resilient future: the influence of institutional administrative organization

  • Unity Environmental University (ME)

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) academic programs have an important and distinctive role in education for sustainability: preparing sustainability-oriented problem solvers who work at the science–policy, science–management, and ...


AAS Degree in Energy Management

  • Tunxis Community College (CT)

The Applied Associate of Science Degree in Energy Management is a two-year technical training program that prepares students for a career in commercial building energy analysis and energy management.

Students ...

  • Posted July 7, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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Learning outcomes for sustainable development in higher education

This paper sets out to discuss the commonalities that can be found in learning outcomes (LOs) for education for sustainable development in the context of the Tbilisi and Barcelona declarations ...


Developing Learning Outcomes for Sustainability

  • Macquarie University (NSW)

This resource provides information on how to develop learning outcomes for sustainability, including examples sourced from unit outlines across the university.


Ethical internationalisation in higher education: interfaces with international development and sustainability

  • University of Alberta (AB)
  • University of British Columbia (BC)

This analysis is situated within a larger project focusing on ethics and internationalization in higher education. Internationalization is occurring at a fast pace and encompasses overlapping and contradictory aims largely ...


Regenerative Sustainable Development of Universities and Cities The Role of Living Laboratories

Now that the Earth has reached the limits of its biophysical carrying capacity, we have to change technologies, social practices and social norms relating to material production and consumption to ...


Environmental Navigation Network: Developing a Peer Mentor Program in the Environmental Program at the University of Vermont

  • University of Vermont (VT)

The acknowledgement of complex environmental problems and society’s work to address them during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, inspired higher education to respond by developing a ...


A Higher Calling for Higher Education

Education and knowledge resources are more available today than ever before. However, humanity’s two main conflicts - coexistence with nature and coexistence with each other - remain unresolved. We need a ...


Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability education: islands of progress in a sea of dysfunction

  • Brown University (RI)
  • Unity Environmental University (ME)

This essay describes the inequity faced by most interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) degree programs and the impact of that inequity on student and faculty experiences. Despite the urgent need ...


Engaging with the contradictions of capitalism: Teaching "sustainability" in the business school

  • University of Sydney (NSW)
  • The University of Newcastle (NSW)

The chapter explores how sustainability education might contribute to a reimagining of our economic system and the role of business. Based on our experience in developing and teaching sustainability curricula ...


Toward the Development of Robust Learning for Sustainability Core Competencies

  • Western Michigan University (MI)

This paper presents the results of a workshop on "Learning for Sustainability Core Competencies" held at AASHE's annual conference. The authors review research on core competencies in education for ...


New Developments in Engineering Education for Sustainable Development

This book discusses essential approaches and methods in connection with engineering education for sustainable development. Prepared as a follow-up to the 2015 Engineering Education in Sustainable Development (EESD) Conference held ...

  • Posted June 28, 2016
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ENERGY STAR Commercial Buildings College Course Materials Package

  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (DC)

The ENERGY STAR college-level course, Introduction to Commercial Building Energy Efficiency Through EPA's ENERGY STAR Program, gives students practical, hands-on experience with commercial building energy efficiency. This course was ...

  • Posted June 27, 2016
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As colleges add green majors and minors, classes fill up

  • USA TODAY (VA)

Colleges are rapidly adding new majors and minors in green studies, and students are filling them fast.

  • Posted June 23, 2016
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First-year student attitudes towards, and skills in, sustainable development

  • Higher Education Academy (York)

This report on student attitudes towards, and skills in, sustainable development describes the results of an online survey of 5,763 first-year higher education (HE) students, across all four UK ...

  • Posted June 23, 2016
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Sustainability Field Booms on Campus

This article describes fast growth in continuing education programs focused on sustainability.

  • Posted June 23, 2016
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Responsible Business: The Textbook for Management Learning, Competence and Innovation

  • Instituto Tecnolgico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey

As sustainable development becomes an increasingly important strategic issue for all organizations, there is a growing need for management and executive education to adapt to this new reality. This textbook ...

  • Posted June 23, 2016
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Educating for Responsible Management: Putting Theory Into Practice

  • Nazareth College (NY)

The global community is looking towards business to play its role in creating a just and fair economy. This increases the urgency and relevance of new approaches to management education ...

  • Posted June 23, 2016
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University Students as Change agents? A Comparative Study of the Role of Students in Higher Education for Sustainable Development in Germany and Sweden

  • Uppsala University

To readjust the direction of social development and to enable sustainable learning for students at all levels, international policy emphasises the necessity to transform education systems based on a whole ...

  • Posted June 23, 2016
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Sustainable Happiness, Living Campus, and Wellbeing for All

  • Dawson College (QC)
  • Cape Breton University (NS)

There is a definite and heartening movement afoot in many education circles. The widespread recognition that formal education is destined for sweeping changes begins with redefining its very purpose. This ...

  • Posted June 21, 2016
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Online Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability at ASU

  • Arizona State University (AZ)

The program explores the social and human aspects of sustainability in the context of real-world issues. Students will look at ways to solve challenges of sustainability related to the environment ...

  • Posted June 21, 2016
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Pre-Service Teachers and Climate Change: A Stalemate?

  • James Cook University (Queensland)

Findings from the second phase of a study of pre-service teachers’ attitudes to environmental education and knowledge of climate change are reported in this paper. A sample of 87 pre-service ...

  • Posted June 20, 2016
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Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

  • University of California, San Diego (CA)

The Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography exists to promote a holistic, interdisciplinary approach in the education of future leaders in marine biodiversity and conservation ...

  • Posted June 20, 2016
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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BS in Environmental Science and Technology

  • University of Maryland, College Park (MD)

The Environmental Science and Technology major prepares students for graduate study and careers focusing on understanding the natural and built environments and resolving environmental problems and concerns for the benefit ...

  • Posted June 20, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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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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