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

Global Citizenship Education: Preparing learners for the challenges of the 21st century

  • UNESCO

This publication explores the concept of Global Citizenship Education (GCE), which it argues has a critical role to play in equipping learners with competencies to deal with the dynamic and ...

  • Posted Sept. 28, 2017
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Educating For Sustainability: Developing Critical Skills

  • Massey University
  • University of Waikato

This article explores the contribution a pedagogical approach based in critical theory can make to education for sustainability in business schools. In addition to the regular business and environmental management ...

  • Posted Sept. 21, 2017
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The Relationship Between Academic Major and Environmentalism Among College Students: Is it Mediated by the Effects of Gender, Political Ideology and Financial Security?

  • Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania (PA)

Several studies have found a relationship between college students’ academic majors and their environmental attitudes and behaviors. Results from this study of incoming first-year students at a medium-sized public university ...

  • Posted Sept. 21, 2017
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Careers in Sustainability: Current Job Trends and Future Growth

This report, based on interviews with 658 Canadian organizations, provides insight on key sustainability employment trends in Canada. It finds that over 50,000 professionals spend 50% or more of ...

  • Posted Sept. 21, 2017
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Careers in organic food production

This article describes the workers who are involved in producing organic food, certifying it, and bringing it to consumers. Although the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not ...

  • Posted Sept. 21, 2017
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2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report

  • United States Department of Energy (DC)

The 2017 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) finds that the Traditional Energy and Energy Efficiency sectors today employ approximately 6.4 million Americans. These sectors increased in 2016 ...

  • Posted Sept. 21, 2017
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Now Hiring: The Growth of America’s Clean Energy & Sustainability Jobs

  • Environmental Defense Fund (DC)

This report examines the growth of sustainability jobs in the United States. Key findings include:

  • Sustainability jobs represent a large and growing portion of the U.S. workforce across multiple ...
  • Posted Sept. 21, 2017
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Integrating Sustainability Into Management Education: A Dean's Perspective

  • Michigan Technological University (MI)

The integration of sustainability and environmental ethics into management education has improved in the past decade. This is partly a response to external pressure, as societal concerns about sustainability grow ...

  • Posted Sept. 20, 2017
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Environmental education for the masses: lessons from a large, general enrollment environmental studies course

  • University of Florida (FL)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

One critical tool for creating an environmentally literate citizenry is to reach students other than those in environmental-related majors in the form of the university-level large introductory environmental studies course ...

  • Posted Sept. 20, 2017
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Writing to learn ecology: a study of three populations of college students

  • Colorado State University (CO)
  • Minnesota State University Moorhead (MN)
  • White Earth Tribal and Community College (MN)

Being an ecologically literate citizen involves making decisions that are based on ecological knowledge and accepting responsibility for personal actions. Using writing-to-learn activities in college science courses, we asked students ...

  • Posted Sept. 20, 2017
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Environmental literacy, ecological literacy, ecoliteracy: What do we mean and how did we get here?

  • University of Montana (MT)

Numerous scholars have argued that the terms environmental literacy, ecological literacy, and ecoliteracy have been used in so many different ways and/or are so all-encompassing that they have very ...

  • Posted Sept. 20, 2017
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Teaching with principles: Toward more effective pedagogy in ecology

  • Colorado State University (CO)
  • Hampshire College (MA)

Ecology is a complex and dynamic field and, as communicators of our discipline, faculty should be able to define a set of core principles that underpin and create ecological pattern ...

  • Posted Sept. 20, 2017
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The role of field exercises in ecological learning and values education: action research on the use of campus wetlands

Providing undergraduate biology students with ecological knowledge and environmental awareness is critical for developing professionalism in sustainable development. In addition to the cognitive and psychomotor development, outdoor ecological exercises combining ...

  • Posted Sept. 20, 2017
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University Reputations and the Public: A Roadmap for Higher Education Leaders

Edelman, a public relations firm, surveyed academics and the general public to understand how the U.S. public evaluates the reputations of higher education institutions, and how these reputational drivers ...

  • Posted Sept. 18, 2017
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Developing strategies and leaders to succeed in a new era of sustainability: Findings and insights from the United Nations Global Compact‐Accenture CEO Study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify leading CEOs’ views on sustainability and how they believe it is impacting the business environment, with a particular focus on the ...

  • Posted Sept. 18, 2017
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Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities: A guide for universities, higher education institutions, and the academic sector

The guide from the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Australia/Pacific aims to accelerate action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights the role universities specifically in Australia, New Zealand ...

  • Posted Sept. 18, 2017
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Higher Education Paving the Way to Sustainable Development: A Global Perspective

The International Association of Universities (IAU), a membership organization, which brings together about 650 higher education institutions and organizations from some 130 countries, launched its first Global Survey on the ...

  • Posted Sept. 18, 2017
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AASHE Award Winner Webinar – Generating and Maintaining Hope and Agency through Sustainability Education

  • Colorado Mountain College (CO)
  • AASHE (PA)

Indigenous educator Gregory Cajete articulates the motivations and questions that drive the presenter’s research. For Cajete, effective education entails ‘finding heart,’ an active process within and beyond the person ...

  • Posted Sept. 14, 2017
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Solar Training and Hiring Insights 2017

This report aims to increase understanding of U.S. solar training, hiring practices, and market trends to help the industry make better, more informed decisions. It aggregates and analyzes data ...

  • Posted Sept. 11, 2017
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Resilience of Social-Ecological Systems and Communities: A Mindfulness-Based Pedagogy

  • University of North Carolina, Asheville (NC)
  • AASHE (PA)

Human and non-human communities have varying capacities to respond to disturbance while maintaining the same basic functions. That is the main argument behind resilience theory and practice, which seek to ...

  • Posted Sept. 11, 2017
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Identifying the role of conservation biology for solving the environmental crisis

Humans are altering their living environment to an extent that could cause environmental collapse. Promoting change into environmental sustainability is therefore urgent. Despite a rapid expansion in conservation biology, appreciation ...

  • Posted Sept. 5, 2017
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Fostering Sustainability in Higher Education: A Mixed-Methods Study of Transformative Leadership and Change Strategies

  • Antioch University, Seattle (WA)

As evidence of the earth's limited capacity to sustain human life mounts, institutions of higher education are being looked to for leadership in the effort to educate students about ...

  • Posted Sept. 5, 2017
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Embedding sustainability in higher education through interaction with lecturers: Case studies from three European technical universities

  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • Technische Universiteit Delft
  • Chalmers University of Technology

In this paper, three universities compare their work on the integration of sustainable development into their educational programmes. The purpose is to show examples of how this can be done ...

  • Posted Sept. 5, 2017
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Evaluating education for sustainable development (ESD): using Ecocentric and Anthropocentric Attitudes toward the Sustainable Development (EAATSD) scale

  • The Hague University of Applied Science

With the emergence of education for sustainable development (ESD), robust literature on ethics and ESD has emerged; however, ecocentric perspective developed within environmental ethics is marginalized in current ESDebate. The ...

  • Posted Sept. 5, 2017
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Education for Sustainable Development: An Empirical Study of the Tensions and Challenges Faced by Geography Student Teachers

  • University of Oxford

This is a qualitative study of the challenges identified by geography student teachers in their learning to teach about education for sustainable development in English secondary schools. The student teachers ...

  • Posted Aug. 31, 2017
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A review of transdisciplinary research in sustainability science

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Achieving the goal of sustainability requires understanding and management of unprecedented and interconnected challenges. A transdisciplinary approach is a key component of sustainability science. However, there are considerable barriers to ...

  • Posted Aug. 31, 2017
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Walking the Eco-Talk Movement: Higher Education Institutions as Sustainability Incubators

  • Edgewood College (WI)

Management scholars can have a major impact on advancing environmental sustainability by focusing on their own home institutions. A “four-type” sustainability action model is presented to foster thinking about how ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Globalization and environmental education: looking beyond sustainable development

This study contends that environmental education is being significantly altered by globalizing forces, witnessing the effort to convert environmental education into education for sustainable development. This internationally propagated conversion can ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Fear Appeals and College Students’ Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions Toward Global Warming

This study used Witte's extended parallel process model to examine the relationships between the use of fear appeals and college students’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward global warming. A ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Sustainability and Higher Education: From arborescent to rhizomatic thinking

  • Stellenbosch University (Western Cape)

Currently, global society is delicately poised on a civilisational threshold similar to that of the feudal era. This is a time when outmoded institutions, values, and systems of thought and ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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From Talloires to Turin: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Declarations for Sustainability in Higher Education

Declarations for sustainability in higher education are often seen as a set of guiding principles that aid institutions of higher learning to incorporate the concept of sustainability into their various ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Comparing different measures of affective attributes relating to sustainability

  • University of Otago (Otago)
  • Otago Polytechnic (Otago)

A survey was developed to benchmark the affective sustainability characteristics of an incoming cohort of students in a Polytechnic in New Zealand, with the intention to monitor changes in these ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Processes, strategies and practices for turning the University of Crete into a sustainable university

In this paper, we look at the University of Crete experience to integrate the concept of sustainable development across all its operations. Through a review of current sustainability practices of ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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The Students’ Survey of Education for Sustainable Development Competencies: A Comparison Among Faculties

  • Universita degli Studi di Padova

The paper reports research employing a quantitative approach to investigating the competences of university students about educating for sustainable development (ESD). Participants were 467 bachelor students of the following five ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Assessing sustainability in higher education curricula: A critical reflection on validity issues

While curricular assessments can give insight as to the extent sustainability is integrated into higher education study programs, issues remain regarding how assessments are conducted. Previous research has identified and ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Greening Technical and Vocational Education and Training: A practical guide for institutions

  • UNESCO

This Guide is designed to help leaders and practitioners of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in improving their understanding and implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) using ...

  • Posted Aug. 28, 2017
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Opportunity and Obligation: A Role for Outdoor Educators in the Sustainability Revolution

A primary educational challenge of the 21st century is to inspire students to become socially and ecologically conscientious citizens who are empowered, responsible members of the larger world. Outdoor educators ...

  • Posted Aug. 18, 2017
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Sustainability, Green IT and Education Strategies in the Twenty-first Century

  • Curtin University

This work presents and discusses the latest approaches and strategies for implementing Sustainability and Green IT into higher education and business environments. Following the global financial crisis in 2007/2008 ...

  • Posted Aug. 17, 2017
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Sustainability at Work: Finding Purpose and Profit in Your Career

  • AASHE (PA)
  • Engineers for a Sustainable World (CO)

This webinar provides career guidance for pursuing sustainability in every imaginable career. Using the SURF Framework that the presenter developed, and professional narratives from various sectors (agriculture, health, science & ...

  • Posted Aug. 17, 2017
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Sustainability Practice and Education on University Campuses and Beyond

  • University of Toledo (OH)

Campus activities for sustainable development are an effective way of learning and implementing sustainability in surrounding communities and industry. A college campus is an ideal place to practice and test ...

  • Posted Aug. 14, 2017
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Greening the Heart of Postsecondary Education

  • Royal Roads University (BC)
  • AASHE (PA)

What does “greening the heart of education” look like at the postsecondary level? What are the big questions we must pose — and answer — if colleges and universities are to contribute ...

  • Posted Aug. 3, 2017
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Sustainable Business Courseware

  • Point B (WA)

AASHE has partnered with Sustainable Business Consulting to provide plug-and-play online sustainable business courseware to help members accelerate the integration of sustainability into their curriculum. The content is consistent with ...

  • Posted Aug. 2, 2017
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Sustainable Business Certificate

  • Point B (WA)

This program has been created to bring students the leading skills and tools for integrating sustainability into any organization - current or future. It is designed to prepare students for practical ...

  • Posted Aug. 2, 2017
  • Academic Programs
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Professional Science: Environmental Geographic Information Science

  • Unity Environmental University (ME)

Often, environmental scientists can analyze and interpret environmental data while GIS scientists can manage and manipulate data. Unity College’s 100% online GIS degree, the Master’s in Professional Science ...

  • Posted Aug. 2, 2017
  • Academic Programs
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An interdisciplinary approach to environmental and sustainability education: developing geography students’ understandings of sustainable development using poetry

  • Anglia Ruskin University

Education for sustainable development (ESD) persists as an important concept within international policy and yet, despite considerable debate, there remains a lack of consensus as to a pedagogy for ESD ...


Employable graduates for responsible employers

  • Higher Education Academy (York)

This report explores links between sustainability and employability in the graduate job market in relation to higher education teaching and learning. This was achieved in two ways - firstly, by researching ...

  • Posted July 28, 2017
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The World Climate Simulation

  • University of Massachusetts Lowell (MA)

The importance of sustainability will only grow during our students’ lifetimes, as will the need for sustainability-literate citizens and professionals of all types. We have developed an interactive and engaging ...

  • Posted July 21, 2017
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Living Labs Research

  • Environmental Association for Universities & Colleges (EAUC) (Gloucestershire)

A university or college living lab is where real-world institutional problems are addressed in new dynamic partnerships between all the institution's stakeholder groups. A living lab facilitates a bridge ...

  • Posted July 13, 2017
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Study Guide Questions for Paul Hawken's The Ecology of Commerce Revised Edition

  • Oklahoma State University (OK)

This interactive workbook is a study tool to accompany Paul Hawken's book “The Ecology of Commerce: Revised Edition: A Declaration of Sustainability” (published in 2010). It transforms reading about ...

  • Posted July 13, 2017
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The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions

Current anthropogenic climate change is the result of greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere, which records the aggregation of billions of individual decisions. Here we consider a broad range of ...

  • Posted July 13, 2017
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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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