The study is a continuation of a project on how higher education institutions implement sustainability in higher education, a project that was previously awarded a prize in the U.S. Now the focus is on how sustainability is taught.
Responses from 600 university teachers and professors from 15 universities in Sweden, Finland, Italy, Spain, Hungary, South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Portugal. Serbia and Poland have provided the basis for a book that will be published on May 11.
“It shouldn’t just be theory”
The researchers have observed that although students learn about critical thinking, analysis and interdisciplinary work, the lessons fail when it comes to developing practical competences in sustainability work.
For this reason, the researchers argue that lessons need to be improved to develop sustainability competences further. Another way is to simply reduce the number of lessons and use different pedagogical approaches instead. Such strategies are supported by previous research, for example from MIT.