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

Rhetoric and Emotion Save Science: Lessons from Student Eco-Activists

  • New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM)

This essay is a qualitative study of the experience of undergraduate students learning how to teach issues of sustainability to their campus communities through an innovative outreach program at a ...

  • Posted April 22, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Constructivist approach in teaching sustainability and business ethics: a case study

  • Åbo Akademi University (Varsinais-Suomi)

This paper aims to explore methods of teaching sustainability and business ethics, relevant to the modern demand for student’s skills and knowledge. The study explores the challenges of teaching ...

  • Posted April 22, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Bolstering responsible management education through the sustainable development goals: Three perspectives

  • Breda University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Antwerp

Acknowledging the roles and responsibilities of business in society and the importance of realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), contemporary management education is characterized by the integration of a rich ...

  • Posted April 22, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Long-Term Impact of Study Abroad on Sustainability-Related Attitudes and Behaviors

  • University of Florida (FL)
  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)

Using study abroad as a vehicle for sustainable education is a growing trend. However, an examination of the impact of study abroad on participants’ sustainability-related attitudes and behaviors years after ...

  • Posted April 22, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Art Education Beyond Anthropocentricism: The Question of Nonhuman Animals in Contemporary Art and Its Education

  • Aalto University

In this article, I explore human relationships to nonhuman animals through posthumanism, contemporary art, and critical animal studies (CAS), offering perspectives for contemporary art education beyond anthropocentricism. I investigate the ...

  • Posted April 22, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Sustainable Literary Competence: Connecting Literature Education to Education for Sustainability

  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Ecocritical scholarship has always had pedagogical ambitions. It is commonly assumed that education based on ecocritical readings of literature will change the attitudes and actions of pupils and students and ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Student-led sustainability transformations: employing realist evaluation to open the black box of learning in a Challenge Lab curriculum

  • Chalmers University of Technology

While sustainability-oriented education is increasingly placing importance on engaging students in inter- and transdisciplinary learning processes with societal actors and authentic challenges in the centre, little research attends to how ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Educators’ experiences and strategies for responding to ecological distress

  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Sydney (NSW)

Research is increasingly identifying the issues of ecological distress, eco-anxiety and climate grief. These painful experiences arise from heightened ecological knowledge and concern, which are commonly considered to be de ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Students, sustainability and education: Results from a survey of students in higher education around the world

  • Students Organising For Sustainability (SOS-UK)

Between April and October 2020, SOS International invited higher education institutions and student-facing organisations to send out a survey designed to gather insight into student experiences of sustainability and education ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

The wicked problem of teaching about wicked problems: Design thinking and emerging technologies in sustainability education

  • University of New Hampshire (NH)
  • Montpellier Business School (Montpellier)

In this paper, we explore the system-level challenges found in sustainability-focused education and consider how the intersections of design thinking and emerging technologies in augmented and virtual reality (AVR) can ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Students as change agents for campus sustainability in Malaysian universities

  • University of Malaya

The notion of students as change agents have widely been used in the campus sustainability literature, but very little has been done to unpack what it really means in practice ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Sustainable economic development in higher education institutions: A global analysis within the SDGs framework

  • Universidad de Almería (Almeria)

Universities must focus their efforts on being economically competitive without harming the chances of being sustainable. The study of sustainable economic development (SED) of higher education institutions (HEIs) has experienced ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

How An Arboretum Outreach Activity Changed Students’ Attitudes Towards Sustainable Development

  • Penn State Brandywine (PA)

In Fall 2017, Penn State Brandywine kicked off an initiative titled Sustainovation, emphasizing programming and community collaborations through sustainability and innovation. The campus identified Tyler Arboretum as a community partner ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Geographers declare (a climate emergency)?

  • University of Wollongong (New South Wales)

Over the last two decades ‘climate emergency’ has grown from a little-known term to a mainstream public issue. In Australia, the term gained traction during the 2019-2020 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

The paradox model: towards a conceptual framework for engaging with sustainability in higher education

  • Canterbury Christ Church University

The growing awareness of climate change, biodiversity loss and the wider global environmental emergency has led to calls for decisive and immediate action from all sections of society. This paper ...

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

UCCS Food Next Door | Farm Subscription Program

  • University of Colorado Colorado Springs (CO)

The Food Next Door Farm Subscription Program strives to help fight hunger, promote food access, boost food literacy, and support regional farmers and ranchers in our community.

  • Posted April 21, 2021
  • Case Studies
  • View more

Field-Based Experiential Education in Geography: Discovering and Rethinking Urban Environmental Challenges and Possibilities

  • Boise State University (ID)
  • York University

Drawing on our experience teaching a 2-week field-based geography course on urban environmental issues, we reinforce the value of field-based experiential education (EE) especially as it faces growing threats. We ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Perceptions of salient stakeholders on the integration of sustainability education into the accounting curriculum: a Jordanian study

  • University of Waikato

This paper aims to examine the perceptions of salient stakeholders in Jordan concerning the importance of integrating sustainability education (SE) into the accounting curriculum.

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

A New Face of Mining Engineer—International Curricula to Sustainable Development and Green Deal (A Case Study of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology)

  • Wrocław University of Science and Technology

The mining industry in the world has undergone a major metamorphosis in recent years. These changes have forced higher education to modify the curricula in a thorough way to meet ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Teaching about sustainable consumption with sustainable tools

  • Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

This paper focuses on the topic of sustainable consumption in order to support teacher trainers and future primary teachers in planning and integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) competencies within ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Academic Research on the 2030 Agenda: Challenges of a Transdisciplinary Field of Study

  • Loyola Universida Andalucía

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the scope to shift the world on to a resilient path focused on promoting ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Locating a Course on Environmental Justice in Theories of Environmental Education and Global Citizenship

  • University College London (London)

Environmental education is an increasingly important concern for policymakers and universities, as it is critical to the success of the broader agenda represented by the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. Achieving ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Learning and Teaching Interdisciplinary Skills in Sustainable Urban Development—The Case of Tampere University, Finland

  • Tampere University of Applied Sciences

Developing the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of urban environments is challenging due to the complex and interconnected nature of the context and objectives. In order to be successful in ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Earth Science Education as a Key Component of Education for Sustainability

  • Universidade do Porto
  • Weizmann Institute of Science

Environmental insight has emerged as a new scientific concept which incorporates the understanding that the Earth is made up of interworking subsystems and the acceptance that humans must act in ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

A generic model for integrating ESD in a university course – complementing a textbook with contemporary material

  • Umeå University

A large number of stakeholders are demanding more education for sustainable development (ESD) at Swedish universities, among them students who are expecting to find ESD in their courses. The aim ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Education for Advancing the Implementation of the Bioeconomy Goals: An Analysis of Master Study Programmes in Bioeconomy

  • Technical University of Crete
  • Riga Technical University

Bioeconomy in Europe has become one of the leading courses for sustainable and resource-efficient development. Main aspects of bioeconomy: development of new technologies and processes, development of markets and competitiveness ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Dealing with global environmental change: the design and validation of the GEC attitude scale

  • Monash University (VIC)
  • University of Vigo
  • University of A Coruña (a Coruña)

Global Environmental Change (GEC) refers to alterations in the structure and functioning of Earth Systems arising from the detrimental effects of human activities in the biophysical and socioeconomic spheres. This ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

The Challenge of Global Environmental Change: Attitudinal Trends in Teachers-In-Training

  • University of Vigo
  • University of A Coruña (a Coruña)

The aim of our research was to study attitudinal trends in Spanish trainee teachers regarding Global Environmental Change (GEC), in order to identify elements that should be enhanced in their ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Implementing social projects with undergraduate students: an analysis of essential characteristics

  • Université de Sherbrooke (QC)
  • University of Campinas
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Universidade Federal Fluminense

This study aims to analyse the essential characteristics for the success of social projects developed with undergraduate students of higher education institutions (HEIs).

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Students’ attitude toward sustainability and humanitarian engineering education using project-based and international field learning pedagogies

  • University of San Diego (CA)

Environmental sustainability and social contexts are becoming increasingly important concepts. The infusion of sustainability and humanitarian engineering (HE) into the academic core curriculum is often challenging. This study aims to ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Mathematics Applied to the Economy and Sustainable Development Goals: A Necessary Relationship of Dependence

  • Universidad de Murcia (Murcia)

Higher education must include training in sustainability to make all actors aware of the serious problems our planet is facing. Mathematics plays an important role in the achievement of the ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

A Holistic Approach to Integrate and Evaluate Sustainable Development in Higher Education. The Case Study of the University of the Basque Country

  • University of the Basque Country

Since the United Nations (UN) approved the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in 2015, higher education institutions have increasingly demonstrated their commitment by supporting several initiatives. Although a great deal ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Infusing the UN Sustainable Development Goals into a global learning initiative

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)
  • University of North Texas (TX)
  • University of South Florida (FL)

The Global Citizens Project (GCP) is a university-wide global learning initiative at the University of South Florida, aimed at enhancing undergraduate students’ global competencies through curricular and co-curricular experiences. The ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

The incoherence of sustainability literacy assessed with the Sulitest

  • Elon University (NC)
  • Northern Illinois University (IL)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)

Improving sustainability knowledge has long been central to international efforts to achieve sustainable development. In response to these efforts, which are formalized in Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Guilty by Association: Addressing Sustainability in Architecture Education

  • Universidad ORT Uruguay

Despite the growing interest in sustainability, negative associations of this term with naïve discourses, green-washing, or low-quality design are still common within some areas in the discipline of architecture. Through ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

‘Challenge to the South’ Revisited: A Case Study Worldwide of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

  • Yorkville University (NB)

Three decades ago Julius Nyerere (1990) wrote Challenge to the South. In response to the legacy of colonialism, Nyerere challenged the nations of the Global South to advance their development ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

A matter of connection: The 4 Cs of learning in pre-service teacher education for sustainability

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

Teacher education for sustainability (TEfS) aims to prepare future educators for their role as societal change agents by developing in them specific sustainability competencies. Whereas previous literature has dealt extensively ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Addressing the Relationship between Economics and Climate Change: A Discussion of Principles

  • Northeastern University (MA)

The majority of US colleges and universities have a degree requirement related to the principles of economics. As a result, nearly all college students have some exposure to economics during ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Teaching Sustainability Practice through Service Learning: A Case Study of Reducing Food Waste

  • University of Southern Maine (ME)
  • University of Wyoming (WY)

This case report details the collaboration and integration of three distinct courses using a service-learning approach for a grant-based environmental project at the University of Southern Maine (USM). The focus ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Enhancing sustainability education through experiential learning of sustainability reporting

  • University of Arkansas (AR)
  • Babson College (MA)
  • EQS International
  • Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego (Warsaw)

While progress has been made in the realm of teaching about sustainability to business students, integrating sustainability into experiential learning with a systemic mindset has been identified by leading scholars ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Transformative education: towards a relational, justice-oriented approach to sustainability

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Lund University
  • One Project (CA)
  • Courage of Care Coalition (CA)

This paper aims to increase related knowledge across personal, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability and how it can be applied to support transformative learning.

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Evaluation and Lessons Learned from a Campus as a Living Lab Program to Promote Sustainable Practices

  • University of British Columbia (BC)
  • University of Victoria (BC)
  • Yaşar University

Any group that creates challenging goals also requires a strategy to achieve them and a process to review and improve this strategy over time. The University of British Columbia (UBC ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Education to transform the world: limits and possibilities in and against the SDGs and ESD

  • Oslo Metropolitan University

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a significant marker in global efforts to universalise a conception of ecologically sustainable human development. SDG 4’s expanded vision of quality ...

  • Posted April 8, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Secrets for a Strong Course Affiliation Program

  • Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
  • AASHE (PA)

This event is part of the AASHE Award Winner Webinar Series, featuring a presentation of the Campus Sustainability Achievement Award winning project.

What are the secrets to a strong course ...

  • Posted March 31, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
  • View more

Environmental Studies Undergraduate Major

  • New York University (NY)

The Department of Environmental Studies aims to provide students with the breadth of understanding and skills necessary for resolving environmental questions and creating a sustainable future on scales ranging from ...

  • Posted March 18, 2021
  • Academic Programs
  • View more

Environmental Studies Undergraduate Minor

  • New York University (NY)

The Department of Environmental Studies aims to provide students with the breadth of understanding and skills necessary for resolving environmental questions and creating a sustainable future on scales ranging from ...

  • Posted March 18, 2021
  • Academic Programs
  • View more

Campuses as living labs for integrated sustainability research, education, and practice

  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (IL)

Campuses as living labs for integrated sustainability research, education, and practice

Ximing Cai, Morgan White#, Evan Delucia, Madhu Khanna Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and ...

  • Posted March 15, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Vertically Integrated Projects for Sustainable Development (VIP4SD)

  • AASHE (PA)
  • University of Strathclyde

As we enter the Decade of Action on these global goals, the VIP4SD program provides a platform for HEIs to leverage the unique access they have to the enthusiasm, idealism ...

  • Posted March 3, 2021
  • Videos & Webinars
  • View more

Impact of higher education imparted by Indian universities on the pro-sustainability orientation of students

  • Symbiosis International University (Maharashtra)

The purpose of this study is to test a model on pro-sustainability orientation (PSO) among the students and comparison of the levels of PSO among the first-year and the second-year ...

  • Posted Feb. 19, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

Future Directions—Engaged Scholarship and the Climate Crisis

  • University of California, Davis (CA)

Climate change has the potential to disrupt ecosystem services and further exacerbate the effects of human activities on natural resources. This has significant implications for educational institutions and the populations ...

  • Posted Feb. 19, 2021
  • Publications
  • View more

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.

Curriculum Partners