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

Research and teaching areas

  • Université de Sherbrooke (QC)

In addition to the largest solar park dedicated to applied research in Canada, the Université de Sherbrooke owns the Johnville Bog and Forest Park, a 225 hectares research and teaching ...


Colorado State University Photos for 2023 SCI

  • Colorado State University (CO)

Academic, engagement, and research photos submitted for use in the 2023 SCI.


Ball State University students and faculty incorporate passive house principles into a design-build of low-income housing which won the DOE Solar Decathlon

  • Ball State University (IN)

Ball State University students and faculty incorporate passive house principles into a design-build of low-income housing which won the 2023 DOE Solar Decathlon


Ball State University students incorporate passive house principles into a design-build of low-income housing which won the DOE Solar Decathlon

  • Ball State University (IN)

Ball State University students incorporate passive house principles into a design-build of low-income housing which won the 2023 DOE Solar Decathlon


Student-Designed and Built Rain Garden

  • North Carolina State University (NC)

The rain garden outside of Lee Residence Hall at NC State University was designed and built by students in the landscape architecture graduate program. This Design-Build course has a long ...


RVCC's new greenhouse

  • Raritan Valley Community College (NJ)

Donors to the RVCC Foundation funded the construction of a new campus greenhouse, which is devoted to student education. Environmental Science students, Environmental Club members, and Center for Environmental Studies ...


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.


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 ...


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
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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 ...


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 ...

  • 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 ...

  • 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
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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
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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 of ...

  • 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 ...

  • 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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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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