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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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Educating for sustainable development: Cultivating creativity through mindfulness

  • Bowling Green State University (OH)

The emotional and cognitive benefits of creativity and mindfulness on the learning process are well documented. However, research on the role of creativity and mindfulness in higher education for sustainable ...

Morphological box for ESD – landmark for universities implementing education for sustainable development (ESD)

  • Munich University for Applied Sciences (Oberbayern)
  • Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule/Mobile University of Technology

Universities have various options to implement higher education for sustainable development (ESD) into curricula and syllabi, and incorporate sustainability into students’ daily routine and life on campus. Despite considerable progress ...

Sustainable construction in Turkish higher education context

  • Middle East Technical University

As the construction industry is one of the dominant contributors to the world’s total CO2 emissions and it has huge negative impacts on the environment, sustainable construction has become ...

Weather Wizard

From Weather Wizard to Cloud Man: Sustainability Education & Outreach with a Fun Approach

  • Cornell University (NY)
  • American Meteorological Society (DC)

The goal of this project is to educate young students about sustainability and create a passion for the environment. Frequently, schools wait until middle school to introduce environmental topics. My ...

Equitable Pathways to 2100: Professional Sustainability Credentials

  • ESDI Green Teach for Opportunity Project (DC)

Across numerous industries and occupations, professional associations are contributing to knowledge and skills for sustainability by offering new credentials. This represents an opportunity to increase students’ career preparedness for clean ...

In search of healthy policy ecologies for education in relation to sustainability: Beyond evidence-based policy and post-truth politics

  • Wageningen University
  • Mana College

There is a rational assumption built into some research projects that policy contexts are influenced by the quality of the evidence. This is, at best, only somewhat true some of ...

Reducing carbon emissions in business through Responsible Management Education: Influence at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels

  • Nottingham Trent University
  • Keele University
  • Northumbria University (Newcastle Upon Tyne)
  • NetPositive Ltd.

There has long been an understanding that to achieve meaningful progress against sustainability challenges, action is required at multiple levels. With regards to education initiatives, these levels range from macro-level ...

The seven sustainability competences according to the RESFIA+D Model. Part A: conceptual background

  • Miami Dade College (FL)
  • Roorda Sustainability

Aim: The article describes the origins, structure and validation of a model for professional competences for sustainable development, called RESFIA+D. The model provides an assessment and policy instrument that ...

Assessment of sustainability competencies: a literature review and future pathways for ESD research and practice

  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • Universidad Camilo José Cela (Madrid)

Aim: This paper aims at reviewing existing theoretical frameworks in sustainability competencies and identifying suitable evaluation strategies and instruments for sustainability competencies assessment in the context of Education for Sustainable ...

International Perspectives on Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education via Systems Thinking

  • Universidad de Córdoba

Various international perspectives from selected regions where substantial work is being done on green and sustainable chemistry education emphasize a systems thinking framework. Common to most of the perspectives is ...

Sustainability in higher education from the perspective of business ethics and corporate sustainability

  • KU Leuven
  • University of Antwerp

Aim: In this epilogue to the special issue, the author provides a reflection on the commonalities between the origins of business ethics and corporate sustainability on the one hand, and ...

Geography Education for Sustainable Development

  • University of Cape Town
  • Zhejiang University
  • East China Normal University

Increased pressure on the earth's resources has led to what is increasingly referred to as the climate crisis. While a whole range of environmental parameters have been transformed through ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Energy engineering curricula for sustainable development, considering underserved areas

  • Carlos III University of Madrid

This paper focuses on the need for sustainable energy engineering degrees and the problems found in establishing appropriate curricula contents. Proposals are made for developing adapted energy engineering degrees. Relevant ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Design Responsibility and Sustainability in Education

  • University of Sharjah

Preparing students for a real-world profession is an essential element of the design education process. These students often question their abilities and power to successfully join the industry, especially when ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Becoming a competent teacher in education for sustainable development: Learning outcomes and processes in teacher education

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

This paper aims to provide a holistic approach to assessing student teachers’ competence development in education for sustainable development (ESD). This is to provide evidence on which teaching and learning ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Party for Animals: Introducing Students to Democratic Representation of Nonhumans

  • The Hague University of Applied Science

This article aims to gauge students’ perceptions of the Dutch Party for Animals (PvdD) in order to reflect on the political representation of nonhumans (animals). The support for political representation ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Integration of a sustainability-oriented socio-scientific issue into the general chemistry curriculum: Examining the effects on student motivation and self-efficacy

  • University of California, Davis (CA)
  • Universität Bremen

This study evaluates the effects of integrating the socio-scientific issue of phosphate sustainability into a large enrollment general chemistry course. The integration was based on the use of a digital ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Petro-pedagogy: fossil fuel interests and the obstruction of climate justice in public education

  • University of Regina (SK)

The corporate control of energy production and the reach of fossil capital into civil and political society can be understood as a regime of obstruction that is preventing necessary action ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Sustainability coursework: student perspectives and reflections on design thinking

  • University of Pittsburgh (PA)

The purpose of this study was to assess particular student outcomes when design thinking was integrated into an environmental engineering course. The literature is increasingly promoting design thinking for addressing ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Sustainability awareness in engineering curriculum through a proposed teaching and assessment framework

  • King Abdulaziz University

Engineers play a vital role in enabling the sustainable development of their societies. Thus, it is necessary to teach sustainability in universities, especially for engineering students, for a more sustainable ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Using sustainability education to enhance a sense of belonging and community among first-year college students

  • Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY)

On campuses across the world, faculty, staff, and administrators continue to wrestle with how best to foster a stronger sense of belonging and community among first-year college students. Research in ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Students’ attitudes towards campus sustainability: A comparison among Jönköping University, Chalmers University of Technology, and University of Gothenburg

  • Jönköping University

The role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in promoting and supporting sustainability has outstretched over the past decades as a result of various declarations and commitments related to the need ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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The Perception of Sustainability in Finance Education from Faculty-Member Perspective

  • Uppsala University

This qualitative research aims to explore what different faculty-member at different Swedish and British Universities think about the role of sustainability in the finance industry and education. The investigation is ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Embedding sustainable development in teacher education in the central region of Ghana

  • University of Iceland

Policy practitioners have acknowledged the imperative of reshaping education. Despite the campaign on the need to embed sustainability principles in education, there still exist gaps in studies which investigate teacher ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Comparing Levels Of Environmental Literacy Between Stars- and Non-Stars-Rated Universities

  • San Jose State University (CA)

The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) is a program that measures university sustainability levels. STARS ranks university campuses based on the number of points received from individual specifications ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Shifting Education Towards Sustainability – How Degrowth Can Transform Education for Sustainable Development

  • University of Zurich

Economic growth was identified as a main cause of ecological damage and social exploitation more than four decades ago (Carson, 1962; Meadows et al, 1972; Gorz, 1980; WCED 1987; 14 ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Weaving Change

  • OCAD University (ON)

The purpose of undertaking this research project was to evaluate the likelihood of success of a Coalition of Graduate Programs in tackling issues of Sustainability. 63 Graduate Programs in Canada ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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Pre-service Teachers’ Knowledge and Perceptions of the Impact of Mitigative Climate Actions and Their Willingness to Act

  • Lappeenranta University of Technology
  • University of Eastern Finland

A 44-item questionnaire was created to examine pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of the impact of mitigative climate change actions and how willing they are to undertake these actions. Responses ...

  • Posted April 16, 2020
  • Publications
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Creating a Sustainable and Engaging Food Waste Recycling Program

  • Chandler-Gilbert Community College (AZ)
  • AASHE (MA)

This presentation will focus on The CGCC Food Waste Recycling Project, an ongoing campus-wide collaborative project that offers deep, cross-disciplinary, experiential student learning via an innovative solution for CGCC’s ...

  • Posted April 9, 2020
  • Videos & Webinars
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Reflections on the learning objectives for sustainable development in the higher education curricula – three cases from the University of Belgrade

  • University of Belgrade

This purpose of this study is to explore the integration of the sustainable development concept and goals into the curriculum of higher education studies using the example of three faculties ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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A Methodology to Analyze the Presence of Sustainability in Engineering Curricula. Case of Study: Ten Spanish Engineering Degree Curricula

  • Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid)
  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • University of Cadiz
  • Universidad de Córdoba

This paper presents a methodology to analyze the sustainability presence level in the curriculum of an engineering degree. The methodology is applied to ten engineering degrees of the Spanish university ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Analysis of the presence of sustainability in Higher Education Degrees of the Spanish university system

  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • Universidad de Córdoba
  • Universidad de Salamanca
  • Universidad de Sevilla

This paper analyzes the extent to which sustainability is present in the curricula of the 16 Education Degree programs belonging to the EDINSOST project: 6 Early Childhood Education Degrees, 7 ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Exploring Undergraduate Attainment of Sustainability Competencies

  • Tufts University (MA)
  • University of New Hampshire (NH)

Are students graduating from sustainability education programs with the competencies that will enable them to act for sustainability? This case study 1.) explores the degree to which a project-based capstone ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Analysis of sustainability presence in Spanish higher education

  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • University of Cadiz

This paper aims to analyze the presence of sustainability in 16 Spanish higher education curricula in the fields of education and engineering.

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Student Sustainability Leadership Development at Portland State University: Developing Holistic Sustainability Leaders

  • Portland State University (OR)

In order to address the myriad of social, economic, and environmental challenges the world is facing, we need to be able to engage in leadership that fosters collective action towards ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Sustainability 101: Guiding Students on a Sustainability Journey

  • University of Alberta (AB)

There have been many rigorous discussions about the purpose of sustainability education and the sets of learning objectives, learning outcomes or competencies that will best serve this purpose. Some scholars ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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From Movements to Managers: Discourse, Jurisdictions, and Positions in the Field of Sustainability

  • Northwestern University (IL)

In three empirical chapters, this dissertation examines the field of sustainability over time, specifically uncovering the processes by which contentious interactions between movements and organizations can shift to the development ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Is management education preparing future leaders for sustainable business? Opening minds but not hearts

  • Indian Institute of Management (Jharkhand)
  • Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Purpose The study aims to examine whether management education can successfully cultivate the competency of empathy that is needed in future corporate leaders to promote sustainability initiatives catering to diverse ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Measures to facilitate the scale-up of education for sustainable development in higher education

  • Middlesex University Dubai

This theoretical study reviews the literature on barriers faced by organisations in recruiting graduates educated to incorporate sustainability practices, followed by an assessment of institutional approaches by universities to address ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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An Issue of Scale: The Challenge of Time, Space and Multitude in Sustainability and Geography Education

  • University of Helsinki
  • University of Stavanger

The field of geography is important for any sustainability education. The aim of geography education is to enable students to understand the environment, its influence on human activity, and how ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Participation of students in the project Valorbio: A case study to accelerate the implementation of sustainability principles in the curriculum

  • Instituto Politécnico de Tomar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the case of the Valorbio research project, in which students of different high-level programs were involved in the experimental work and ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Sustainability for Brazilian management students: integrity and opportunism

  • Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (ES)

This paper investigates the perspective of students in the undergraduate management program of a Brazilian public university regarding the notion of sustainability. A quantitative survey was carried out, and data ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Environmental Issues and Social Work Education

  • Universidad Católica del Maule (Maule)

Environmental issues have been well-documented in recent years, paying particular attention to the anthropogenic climate change impact. To date, research addressing the relationship between environmental issues, environmental justice and sustainability ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Understanding students’ perception of sustainability in architecture education: A comparison among universities in three different continents

  • University of Texas at San Antonio (TX)
  • University of Auckland
  • CEU Universidad Cardenal Herrera (Valencia)

Educational institutions around the globe have taken definitive steps to curtail the increasing dependence on energy in the built environment by promoting the education of sustainability-minded professionals. Since a large ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Roles of Systems Thinking within Green Chemistry Education: Reflections from Identified Challenges in a Disadvantaged Context

  • University of Venda (South Africa)

Systems thinking is currently envisaged as a useful educational approach to teaching about sustainability (including green chemistry education) because of the high number of interrelated factors involved and the need ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Scientific Support for Redesigning a Higher-Education Curriculum on Sustainability

  • University of Basel (Basel-Stadt)

This paper is devoted to how a team of experts scientifically supported redesigning the curriculum of an elective study program that promotes competences for sustainable development. In contrast to other ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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Reporting on sustainable development with student inclusion as a teaching method

  • Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Amberg-Weiden (Oberpfalz)

The paper is a mixed-method case study. First focus is to test which standard and indicators are suitable for universities reporting on sustainability. Therefore, reporting was on the agenda of ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Higher Education Institutions as a Transformation Platform under the Sustainable Development Goals Framework

  • Universidad de Murcia (Murcia)

Previous research has highlighted the critical role of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in promoting sustainability. In this vein, HEI, as a driving force of change, should actively participate in the ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
  • Publications
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Integrating sustainability in higher planning education through international cooperation: Assessment of a pedagogical model and learning outcomes from the students’ perspective

  • University of Belgrade
  • University of Stuttgart (Stuttgart)

Purpose This paper aims to supplement existing research on a joint approach to integrate sustainability into higher planning education (HPE) by facilitating an international transformative learning process. It looks at ...

  • Posted March 5, 2020
  • Publications
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Promoting botanical literacy with a mobile application - CampusFlora - using an interdisciplinary, student-as-partners approach

  • University of Sydney (NSW)

In this article, we describe our students-as-partners process for bringing undergraduate and academic staff together to develop a mobile application (app) - CampusFlora - for use across our campuses. Our project at ...

  • Posted March 5, 2020
  • Publications
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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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