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.
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Environmental Science major learns horticulture first-hand
- Raritan Valley Community College (NJ)
One of RVCC's Center for Environmental Studies interns growing native plants in the original campus greenhouse.
- Posted Aug. 22, 2023
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Forestery living lab
- Université Laval (QC)
Every year, Université Laval's Faculty of Forestry organizes research and teaching activities in its scientific forest, Forêt Montmorency. This is an opportunity for students to apply their learning and contribute …
- Posted Aug. 22, 2023
- Photographs
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Closing the Sustainability Skills Gap: Helping businesses move from pledges to progress
- Microsoft (WA)
This report helps make the case for greater curricular integration of sustainability. Here are some key quotes:
- “We cannot address climate change at the scale and speed required without developing …
- Posted Aug. 18, 2023
- Publications
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MS in Resilient and Sustainable Communities
- Prescott College (AZ)
As people across the planet begin the process of adapting to the consequences of climate disruption and growing inequalities in wealth and access to vital resources, the MRSC program is …
- Posted Aug. 17, 2023
- Academic Programs
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Faculty for a Future Seed Library
- Faculty for a Future
In a world of colliding social and environmental crises, every discipline is crucial to the pursuit of a safer, fairer, and more sustainable future.
Many academics are concerned about the …
- Posted Aug. 2, 2023
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A case study of sustainable hospitality education relating to food waste from the perspective of transformative learning theory
- Shih Chien University
This study applies a critical tourism approach and transformative learning theory to examine the factors influencing students to take a food design course and the relationships among students' learning intentions …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Rethinking education for SDG 7: A framework for embedding gender and critical skills in energy access masters programmes in Africa
- University of Cape Town
To address the complex energy access challenges on the African continent a local skilled workforce is needed. Considering the crucial role distributed and renewable energy (DRE) is expected to play …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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The intellectual structure of the literature on sustainability leadership in higher education: an author co-citation analysis
- Mahidol University (Bangkok)
This review aims to identify the intellectual structure or key theoretical themes that comprise the emerging field of sustainability leadership in higher education. The Scopus index was used to identify …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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The implementation of the SDGs in universities: a systematic review
- Universidad de Sevilla
Currently, in the field of Sustainable Development (SD), one of the most significant debates is the necessary incorporation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education and, specifically, in higher …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Sustainability courses in hospitality and tourism higher education: Perspectives from industry practitioners and students
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
In hospitality and tourism (H&T) context, interaction between stakeholders is vital to cultivate the learning sustainability. This study investigates the perceptions of sustainable issues among stakeholders (industry practitioners and students) …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Ecosystem guidance for the incorporation of renewable utilities in a multi-use campus network
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Configuring the network connections in industrial, power, and water networks to mimic the structural patterns of ecological food webs has been shown to improve the resilience of human networks. This …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Politicizing the learning of Sustainable Development Goals through drama performances and agonistic debates: a teacher training experience from the perspective of radical democracy
- Universitat de València
Based on empirical evidence, this research aimed to offer a methodical approach to politicizing the apprenticeship of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through drama performances and agonistic debates from the …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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“When I act consciously, I can see a brighter world around me”: preservice teacher readiness to support transformative sustainability learning
- Arizona State University (AZ)
- Northern State University (SD)
- University of Cincinnati (OH)
- Virginia Tech (VA)
Teacher education is pivotal to advancing pedagogies, practices, and content knowledge that promote sustainability literacy in formal education settings. To explore preservice teachers’ (PST) readiness to implement transformative sustainability learning …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Development of teachers’ practices in the field of education for sustainable development (ESD): a discursive community of interdisciplinary practices focusing on the theme of chocolate
- Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg
The aim of this article is to present a case study in the field of ESD for in-service teachers training conducted in a Swiss primary school. A Discursive Community of …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Agents for sustainable futures? The (unfulfilled) promise of sustainability at leading business schools
- Budapest Business University
- Eötvös Loránd University
Present and future business leaders might be amongst the most important actors in initiating and managing a transition towards a sustainable economy and society in general. Preparing them for such …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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An Imaginary of Radical Hope: Developing Brave Space for Class Discussion
- Marywood University (PA)
- Pacific University (OR)
Many students feel despair when addressing systemic issues of ethical significance, such as climate change, and student despair has been exacerbated by the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic. This creates …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Techno Futurist, sustained inequalities and Eco-utopia: Speculative imaginaries of Business Education in 2050
- Fundação Getulio Vargas
The legitimacy of business education and its impact on society have been debated in the context of the economic and climate crises, with curricula, learning spaces and pedagogy being the …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Embedding sustainability in university work experience placements: a De Montfort University model
- De Montfort University
Purpose: The paper looks at the feasibility of university placements supporting small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to operate in a sustainable manner. Due to size and resource constraints, many SMEs …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Implementing sustainability via organizational learning: case study of a French business school
- Fundação Getulio Vargas
Purpose: This study aims to clarify how higher educational institutions (HEI now onwards) can engage in organizational learning process to implementing sustainability initiatives. Through the case study of business school …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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The Contribution of Higher Education to Sustainability: The Development and Assessment of Sustainability Competences in a University Case Study
- Imperial College London
Universities can make a significant contribution to sustainability, and the development of sustainability competences in their graduates should be a key outcome of their courses. We propose an assessment framework …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Recent developments on research in sustainability in higher education management and accounting areas
- Polytechnic Institute of Leiria
- Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná
The purpose of this study is to investigate recent developments in sustainability in higher education, seeking to understand what is happening in the areas of Management and Accounting. This study …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Increasing the commitment of students toward corporate social responsibility through higher education instruction
- Universidad de Granada
The corporate social responsibility strategies that companies will incorporate depend on the commitments and decisions that future generations will make. Under the Principles for Responsible Management Education framework, universities must …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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The Interdisciplinary Responsible Management Competence Framework: An Integrative Review of Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability Competences
- Western University (ON)
- KEDGE Business School (Bordeaux)
- University of Manchester (Lancashire)
At the centre of responsible management (RM) learning is the development of managerial competence for ethics, responsibility, and sustainability (ERS). Important contributions have been made from each: the ethics, responsibility, …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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The impact of teaching interventions in education for sustainable development – an experimental case study
- Open University of the Netherlands
- University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz
- University of Wroclaw/Uniwersytet Wrocławski (Wrocław)
Questionnaire research can be used as a teaching instrument and to measure the impacts of education for sustainable development. This paper presents a case study of a teaching intervention regarding …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Decolonizing Sustainability through Indigenization in Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions
- University of Saskatchewan (SK)
Sustainability discourse indicates a need to reconsider our approaches to social, economic, and environmental issues because, without deep transformation, global human survival is in jeopardy. At the same time, post-secondary …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Empowering students to confront environmental injustice: Dialogue, theory, empathy, and partnership
- George Washington University (DC)
- Iowa State University (IA)
- North Carolina A&T State University (NC)
- Pennsylvania State University (PA)
- The Ohio State University (OH)
- University of California, Los Angeles (CA)
Many students find environmental justice to be emotionally overwhelming and/or politically alienating, and there is currently little work that provides instructors with effective techniques for addressing these types of challenges. …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Design principles for advancing higher education sustainability learning through transformative research
- Leuphana University of Lüneburg
- Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin)
A growing number of transformative research practices that redefine the role of science in engaging with local–mostly urban–transformation processes have emerged in recent decades. However, while education is considered a …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Using Competency Maps for Embedding and Assessing Sustainability in Engineering Degrees
- Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
- University of the Basque Country
This paper features a methodology for embedding and assessing a competency in an academic curriculum using competency maps. This methodology enables embedding and assessment of any competency in any curriculum, …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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An overview of the engagement of higher education institutions in the implementation of the UN sustainable development goals
- University of São Paulo
- Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Higher education institutions provide valuable inputs toward implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, it is unclear how this engagement is taking place across the world. This study addresses …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Is sustainability an exhausted concept? Bridging the gap from environmental awareness to emotional proficiency in science education through integral sustainability
- Universidad de Extremadura
Sustainability has recently become a common context for science teaching due to its potential in terms of learning the content and promoting such universal values as respect for human rights …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Cross-cultural transformative learning: Fostering sustainability mindsets among business school students
- Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté
We are facing urgent sustainability challenges owing to climate change. Considering the social and environmental crisis resulting from it, higher education institutions are called upon prepare current and future generations …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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An assessment of key sustainability competencies: a review of scales and propositions for validation
- Umeå University
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review and provide propositions about survey assessment tools of the key sustainability competencies (KSCs) of education for sustainability. UNESCO points out how …
- Posted June 15, 2023
- Publications
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Climate change education in China: a pioneering case of its implementation in tertiary education and its effects on students’ beliefs and attitudes
- University of Arizona (AZ)
Purpose: In view of a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of climate change education (CCE) in China, this study aims to evaluate if a CCE course newly designed based …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Structural drivers and barriers to the strategic integration of sustainability in US B-schools
- Ramapo College of New Jersey (NJ)
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore structural drivers and barriers that distinguish US business school Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) signatories from nonsignatory peer institutions, and …
- Posted June 15, 2023
- Publications
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Fostering students’ systems thinking competence for sustainability by using multiple real-world learning approaches
- Wageningen University
- Addis Ababa University
For a sustainable future, equipping sustainability change agents with relevant sustainability competencies is crucial. Among these competencies is system thinking competence – the understanding of complex interrelationships among the dimensions …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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An evidence-based roadmap to integrate planetary health education into the medical curriculum
- Utrecht University
- University of Amsterdam
The urgency for action on climate change is regarded as the defining issue of our time. Planetary health education prepares future healthcare professionals to promote the health of the planet, …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Can Online Teaching Reduce the Carbon Footprint of the Internationalisation of UK Higher Education?
- University of Sussex (Sussex)
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a learning curve for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in devising and delivering teaching online. This transition has enabled HEIs to continue teaching students, especially international …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Emergentist education and the opportunities of radical futurity
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology
- Uppsala University
- University of the Sunshine Coast
Higher education has been criticised for its instrumental character, which constrains possibilities for meaningful change towards sustainability. Drawing on the concept of radical futurity, we develop a conception of education …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Auditing a case study: Enhancing case-based learning in education for sustainability
- University of Worcester
Case-based learning is a long-standing pedagogic practice involving students undertaking a single dimensional, independent analysis of a text case study which feeds forward into a class discussion. However, this poses …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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The role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in educating future leaders with social impact contributing to the sustainable development goals
- University of Derby
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how higher education institutions (HEIs) educate future leaders with social impact contributing to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). HEIs have an …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Living labs in the context of the UN sustainable development goals: state of the art
- Windesheim University of Applied Sciences
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina)
- University of Coimbra
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Universidade Fernando Pessoa
- Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi
This paper reports on a comprehensive study, which has investigated the approaches, methods and tools being deployed in implementing living labs among higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world. Two …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Physical education teacher educators’ subjective theories about sustainability and education for sustainable development
- University of Vechta
- University of Augsburg (Schwaben)
Purpose: Physical education (PE) and PE teacher education have great potential to target goals that are important from an education for sustainable development (ESD) perspective. However, ESD has not been …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Sustainability Aspects among Higher Education Students in Qatar
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Makkah)
Sustainable development necessitates that societies design activities to meet human needs while protecting the planet’s life-support systems in consideration of depleting natural resources and concern for the state of the …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Development of education for sustainable fashion design using a challenge-based learning approach
- Hongik University
This study proposes a model for sustainable education in fashion design through the development, implementation, and assessment of a specific curriculum. It employed the challenge-based learning (CBL) approach to facilitate …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Experiential Learning for Sustainability in Supply Chain Management Education
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
- Tecnológico de Monterrey (Nuevo Leon)
- Aston University
This work is about sustainability-related learning experiences for the discipline of supply chain management (SCM) in Higher Education. It arises from the need to motivate students with relevant and interesting …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Training students in inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability education: nurturing cross-faculty staff commitment and continuous community collaboration
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
To properly address complex sustainability issues, higher education institutes (HEIs), such as universities, need to implement innovative educational programmes that adhere to transdisciplinary principles. This study aims to contribute to …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Applied engineering education for soft skills in the context of sustainability and mobility
- Halmstad University
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the need to rethink the traditional approach to education in the university engineering curriculum. The paper examines two engineering projects led …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Perceptions and concerns about sustainable healthcare of nursing students trained in sustainability and health: A cohort study
- University of Jaén
Aim: To describe nursing students' perceptions of sustainable health education in the nursing curriculum and their concerns about sustainable healthcare and the impact of climate change on nursing. Background: Sustainable …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Integrating a sustainability education model into STEM courses at a tribal college
- Arizona State University (AZ)
Indigenous scholars have been historically excluded from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and are currently underrepresented in STEM degree programs and jobs. Having a population with STEM skills is …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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Reaching the Rest: Embedding Sustainability in Undergraduate Student Learning
- University of Toronto (ON)
There exists a substantial literature on sustainability pedagogy. Much of it addresses individual courses, sustainability programs, or the learning competencies that are encouraged. The implicit focus is on students who …
- Posted June 15, 2023
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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
- Percentage of courses that are sustainability course offerings
- Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings
- Inventory of sustainability course offerings (upload)
- Website URL - Sustainability course offerings
AC 2: Learning Outcomes
- Description of institution level sustainability learning outcomes
- List of degree programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability
- Percentage of students who graduate from programs that require an understanding of sustainability
- Website URL - Sustainability learning outcomes
AC 3: Undergraduate Program
- First sustainability-focused undergraduate degree program
- Second sustainability-focused undergraduate degree program
- Third sustainability-focused undergraduate degree program
- First sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration
- Second sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration
- Third sustainability-focused undergraduate minor or concentration
AC 4: Graduate Program
- First sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- Second sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- Third sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- First sustainability-focused graduate-level minor or concentration
- Second sustainability-focused graduate-level minor or concentration
- Third sustainability-focused graduate-level minor or concentration
AC 5: Immersive Experience
- Description of the sustainability-focused immersive program(s)
- Second sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
- Third sustainability-focused graduate-level degree program
AC 6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
- Copy of the sustainability literacy assessment (upload)
- Copy of the sustainability literacy assessment (description)
- Website URL - Assessment of sustainability literacy
AC 7: Incentives for Developing Courses
- Description of the course development incentives
- Website URL - Incentives for developing sustainability courses
AC 8: Campus as a Living Laboratory
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.