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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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Graduate Certificate in Natural Resources

  • Virginia Tech (VA)

This 12-credit graduate certificate prepares natural resources, environmental, and sustainability professionals to succeed in a global, transboundary world. It includes 1 required course (Conservation Ecology) and 3 electives, giving students …

  • Posted Feb. 21, 2017
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Graduate Certificate in Global Sustainability

  • Virginia Tech (VA)

This 9-credit graduate certificate is designed for students and professionals seeking training and experience in international sustainable development, with a particular emphasis on environmental sustainability in emerging economies. Students pursuing …

  • Posted Feb. 21, 2017
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Using an Outdoor Learning Space to Teach Sustainability and Material Processes in HE Product Design

This ‘case study’ of two jewellery workshops used outdoor learning spaces to explore both its impact on learning outcomes and to introduce some key principles of sustainable working methodologies and …

  • Posted Feb. 20, 2017
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Making Sustainable Development Real Through Role-Play: “The Mekong Game” Example

  • Georgetown University (DC)
  • Virginia Tech (VA)

This paper describes a role-playing, negotiation “game” based on the Xayaburi Dam in Laos. We have used this activity in our graduate programs as a tool for bringing to life …

  • Posted Feb. 20, 2017
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Case Studies in Sustainable Social Work: MSW Students Explore Principles in Practice

  • Portland State University (OR)
  • University of Portland (OR)

In 1999, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in the United States published a policy statement on the environment that acknowledged the social work profession’s apparent “lack of interest” …

  • Posted Feb. 20, 2017
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Immerse in Your Watershed: Problem-Based, Service Learning for Undergraduate Sustainability Education

  • Maharishi University of Management (IA)

This case study describes a problem-based and service learning module in which undergraduate students participated in a community-based project. Students joined a group consisting of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), public …

  • Posted Feb. 20, 2017
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Energy and development: the role of academia in education, research, and technological cooperation for sustainability

Over the last decades, the interest of the international community for the multiple interconnections among energy, environment, and society has widely increased. Today, the close link between energy and development …

  • Posted Feb. 17, 2017
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Integration of sustainability in engineering education: Why is PBL an answer?

Purpose - Education for sustainable development (ESD) is one of the challenges engineering education currently faces. Engineering education needs to revise and change its curriculum to integrate ESD principles and …

  • Posted Feb. 17, 2017
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Environmental literacy of business students in Ghana

Purpose - This study examines the multidimensionality of the environmental literacy concept among university business students in Ghana. The study also investigates the relationship between students’ interests in environmental issues …

  • Posted Feb. 17, 2017
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Ethics in Higher Education: Values-driven Leaders for the Future

The values and virtues practised in universities heavily influence the leaders of the future, but outside the limelight of excelling education institutions there is a concerning violation of good practises …

  • Posted Feb. 14, 2017
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The use of educational game design and play in higher education to influence sustainable behaviour

  • Cardiff University

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss a novel life cycle approach to education for sustainable development (ESD) where the students become “design thinkers”.

Design/methodology/approach - A …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Empowerment for sustainability in higher education through the EYE learning tool

  • Wageningen University

Purpose - While empowerment for sustainability is considered a major objective within sustainability-oriented educational programs and policies, little is known about the actual process of empowering students for sustainability through …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Accounting for sustainability: an active learning assignment

Purpose - Sustainability is one of the newer topics in the accounting courses taught in university teaching programs. The active learning assignment as described in this paper was developed for …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Using module-based learning methods to introduce sustainable manufacturing in engineering curriculum

  • Auburn University (AL)
  • Syracuse University (NY)
  • Texas A&M University (TX)
  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)
  • Wayne State University (MI)

Purpose - Sustainable manufacturing may be defined as the creation of manufactured products that use processes that are non-polluting, conserve energy and natural resources, and are economically sound and safe …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Higher education for sustainable development at EARTH University

  • Universidad Iberoamericana, A.C. (DF)
  • EARTH University

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to present the experience of a Central American university that has been successfully advancing an educational model focused on sustainability for over …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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What should every citizen know about ecology?

  • Radford University (VA)
  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus (NJ)
  • St. Petersburg College (FL)

The level of ecological literacy among the general population in the US and other countries is not known, although there is widespread concern that it is too low to enable …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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What do people know about key environmental issues? A review of environmental knowledge surveys

  • St. Catherine University (MN)

This paper presents results from 15 little publicized state and national environmental surveys in the US that used similar questions. Our analysis reveals trends in adult understanding of environmental issues. …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Education for sustainability using a campus eco-garden as a learning environment

Purpose - This paper aims to explore stakeholder perspectives of the role of a campus eco-garden in education for sustainability (EfS). It will combine the perspectives to highlight a powerful …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Global consciousness and pillars of sustainable development: A study on self-perceptions of the first-year university students

Purpose - This paper aims to provide data on the self-perceived state of sustainability consciousness of first-year Hong Kong students.

Design/methodology/approach - Within a mixed-method research design framework, the authors …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Wheels of change in higher education: A collaborative, multi-stakeholder project as a vehicle for sustainability education

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to profile the development of a bicycle parking hub at the University of Tasmania to illustrate how the Academic Operations Sustainability Integration …

  • Posted Feb. 13, 2017
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Beneath Our Eyes: An Exploration of the Relationship between Technology Enhanced Learning and Socio-Ecological Sustainability in Art and Design Higher Education

This article uses published research to explore how Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) can help to sustain learning communities to engage in creative exploration and open investigation. It then draws on …

Language Education for Sustainable Development

Nowadays, education for sustainable development starts covering wider and wider spheres of interest and human activity. Out of the three main spheres of interest, such as environmental, economic, and socio-cultural, …

Using Photovoice to Explore Environmental Sustainability Across Languages and Cultures

  • Bellarmine University (KY)
  • Centre College (KY)
  • University of Kentucky (KY)

Though work in the area of photovoice (in which students take photos to structure a dialogue that can serve to advance social action as the community responds to the participants’ …

“I’m Just Going to Buy That!”: Confronting Consumerism in Teacher Education

  • Nipissing University (ON)

As educators at a faculty of education, the authors found that teacher candidates (TCs) invariably purchased new materials whenever they had an assignment requiring some form of construction activity. They …

Higher Education Students’ Perceptions of Environmental Issues and Media Coverage

  • University of Turku

This study aims to find higher education students’ perceptions about environmental issues and how the perceptions are related to perceptions of media coverage. This study investigates higher education students’ perceptions …

Education for sustainable development in Vietnam: lessons learned from teacher education

  • Kyoto University

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify challenges in education for sustainable development (ESD) implementation in teacher education institutions (TEIs) in Vietnam and propose some appropriate solutions …

An experience-based learning framework: Activities for the initial development of sustainability competencies

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Purpose - This paper aims to present an experience-based learning framework that provides a bottom-up, student-centered entrance point for the development of systems thinking, normative and collaborative competencies in sustainability. …

Chemistry (BS/BA)

  • Drexel University (PA)

Drexel University is known in Philadelphia for its focus on cooperative education and community engagement. In support of a University-wide focus on sustainability, the Department of Chemistry has integrated green …

  • Posted Feb. 8, 2017
  • Academic Programs
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Chemistry, Associate of Science

  • Central New Mexico Community College (NM)

The Chemistry Department at Central New Mexico Community College started down a greener path several years ago, by re-writing their introduction to Chemistry lab manual to incorporate the principles of …

  • Posted Feb. 8, 2017
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Chemistry Minor

  • Bridgewater State University (MA)

The Department of Chemical Sciences at Bridgewater State University has been integrating green chemistry into their curriculum for over a decade. The department currently teaches green chemistry throughout their organic …

  • Posted Feb. 8, 2017
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Chemistry, Biochemistry Concentration, BS

  • Bridgewater State University (MA)

The Department of Chemical Sciences at Bridgewater State University has been integrating green chemistry into their curriculum for over a decade. The department currently teaches green chemistry throughout their organic …

  • Posted Feb. 8, 2017
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Chemistry, BA

  • Bridgewater State University (MA)

The Department of Chemical Sciences at Bridgewater State University has been integrating green chemistry into their curriculum for over a decade. The department currently teaches green chemistry throughout their organic …

  • Posted Feb. 8, 2017
  • Academic Programs
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Chemistry, Professional Chemistry Concentration, BS

  • Bridgewater State University (MA)

The Department of Chemical Sciences at Bridgewater State University has been integrating green chemistry into their curriculum for over a decade. The department currently teaches green chemistry throughout their organic …

  • Posted Feb. 8, 2017
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Strategy Textbooks and the Environment Construct: Are the Texts Enabling Strategists to Realize Sustainable Outcomes?

  • Griffith University (Queensland)

A central claim within the sustainable development literature is that realizing sustainable outcomes requires a move away from a conceptualization of the environment as a separate, bounded, independently given entity. …

Urban studies and the challenge of embedding sustainability: A review of international master programmes

The United Nations declaration of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD, 2004–2014) advocates the need for universities to embed sustainability in all learning areas. This inquiry examines …

Going green in architectural education: An urban living lab experiment for a graduation green design studio in Saint Catherine, Egypt

  • Lund University

Given the current energy crises, recent efforts have been directed at bringing energy efficiency and environmental awareness across the board into architectural education in Egypt. Although interest in sustainable design …

A validity and reliability study of the Attitudes toward Sustainable Development scale

  • Universita degli Studi di Padova

This article describes the development and validation of the Attitudes toward Sustainable Development scale, a quantitative 20-item scale that measures Italian university students’ attitudes toward sustainable development. A total of …

Building a comprehensive framework for sustainable education using case studies

  • University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (MA)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive theory for sustainable education.

Design/methodology/approach: The authors have used a multiple case studies approach.

Findings: The …

Evaluation of teaching approach and student learning in a multidisciplinary sustainable engineering course

  • Iowa State University (IA)

Teaching sustainability concepts to multidisciplinary classes of engineering students is challenging due to their diverse background and discipline-specific skill set and the interdisciplinary nature of the sustainability issues at stake. …

Review on integrating sustainability knowledge into architectural education: Practice in the UK and the USA

  • University of Malaya

The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development steered by The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) since 2005 ended in 2014. It looked into the …

Are we educating engineers for sustainability?: Comparison between obtained competences and Swedish industry's needs

  • Chalmers University of Technology

Purpose – The aim of this study is to contribute to the quality improvement and long‐term strategic development of education for sustainable development (ESD) in engineering education curricula.

Design/methodology/approach – …

A New Era of Sustainability: CEO reflections on progress to date, challenges ahead and the impact of the journey toward a sustainable economy.

This report describes the results of a survey of 766 United Nations Global Compact member CEOs. Findings include:

  • 93 percent of CEOs see sustainability as important to their company’s future …

Responding to environmental challenges: an initial assessment of higher education curricula needs by Australian planning professionals

  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

Environmental planning education has become crucial given the projected implications of climate change for human settlements and nature. However, despite the identified importance of educating planners with regards to sustainability …

Education for Sustainability, Graduate Capabilities, Professional Employment: How They All Connect

  • RMIT University

Education for Sustainability (EfS) has an intimate relationship with professional employment as we seek to develop graduates who will take EfS values and understanding into their workplaces to build a …

Sustainability, Learning and Capability: Exploring Questions of Balance

It is argued that sustainable development makes best sense as a social learning process that brings tangible and useful outcomes in terms of understanding and skills, and also reinforces the …

Connecting curriculum, capabilities and careers

  • RMIT University

Purpose

The reported research aims to examine the extent to which sustainability capabilities have been delivered by a specific example of Education for Sustainability (EfS) and Education for Sustainable Development …

Educating the Aware, Informed and Action-Oriented Sustainable Citizen

  • University of Iowa (IA)

The Introduction to Sustainability course at the University of Iowa seeks to educate the aware, informed and action-oriented sustainable citizen. A phenomenographic analysis and retrospective pretest were utilized to determine …

Profiling Sustainability Curriculum in AACSB Schools

  • University of Mary Washington (VA)

This article describes the landscape of Sustainability Curriculum being used across the Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)–accredited schools in the United States on the basis of a …

Institutionalizing interdisciplinary sustainability curriculum at a large, research-intensive university: challenges and opportunities

  • University of Utah (UT)

As universities and colleges seek to integrate sustainability into a broad range of programs, degrees, and certificates, they must overcome traditional academic silos, disciplinary boundaries, and funding constraints. This requires …

Pedagogy of Passion for Sustainability

  • Concordia University (QC)

Our current practices in teaching sustainable management are replete with scientific facts, analytical tools, optimization models, and management techniques. The key pedagogical goal is to help students intellectually understand and …

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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