Education & Training
Sustainability Education: Our Approach
Sustainability education equips people with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to understand complex sustainability challenges and to develop effective, transformational solutions. In our approach to developing and delivering sustainability courses and programs, we combine solutions-orientation, competency-focus and project-based pedagogies.
- Solutions-orientation: we guide students how to study and evaluate sustainability solutions, explore whether these solutions could be transferred and adapted to the local context, and how to construct new sustainability solutions.
- Competency-focus: we support students in developing competencies needed for collectively working on sustainability changes, including key competencies in sustainability (such as systems-, futures-, values- and strategic-thinking) as well as professional skills (such as effective and compassionate communication, responsive project-management, or caring for oneself and others).
- Project-based pedagogies: we seek collaboration with practice partners to connect classroom learning with real-world challenges and contexts; these collaborations range from practice partners giving guest lectures in class, to inviting students to site visits and tours of their operations, to joint projects on real-world sustainability challenges.
See our publications list for more resources on sustainability education.
Training for Instructors
We offer training to design sustainability focused courses, integrate transdisciplinary projects, and support students in fostering their professional skills.
Training for Students
We offer training on solutions-oriented sustainability research and practice, as well as developing professional skills for working on real-world sustainability challenges.
Our approaches are adaptable to various formats and modalities (in-person, hybrid, online).
Current Projects
Training for Transdisciplinary Interface Managers
Transdisciplinary Interface Managers (TI-Managers) can play a crucial role in supporting collaboration between scientists and practitioners working on complex sustainability problems (see, e.g., Brundiers et al., 2013). But such a role requires a unique set of competencies in cultivating relationships, managing projects, facilitating collaboration, and supporting sustainability transformations. The TSS group is in the process of co-developing & testing such a program for post-graduate students, scholars, and university staff.
The real-world stories featured in the video series “Evidence from the Field” are publicly available on YouTube.
Feasibility Analysis – International Sustainability Solutions Joint Masters Program
Internationally, many sustainability programs have emerged. Yet, most lack a key feature: providing robust training in solving sustainability challenges for students aspiring to work as professionals in firms, public administration or a non-governmental organization aiming to support sustainability transformations in areas like energy, mobility, or food systems.
To address this gap, the TSS group and partners from the University of Basel, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of Strasbourg formed a consortium and received
seed funding from the EUCOR – the European Campus. EUCOR is a platform organized by France, Switzerland and Germany to facilitate transborder research and education in the Upper Rhein Region. They aim to encourage student mobility and facilitate intercultural experiences, for instance through setting up joint degree programs among EUCOR universities.
Leveraging this background, the consortium compiles an evidence-informed vision of a curriculum that trains students in the tools and practices of solving sustainability problems. More importantly, it assesses the potential for setting up such a program in the partner universities and with support of practice partners interested in participating in transdisciplinary education. Past experiences show that laying such groundwork and building relationships is critical for the success of implementing such a program successfully. More information can be found here.
Explore Interactive and Collaboratively Created Tools
Solutions-orientation
Intervention Curriculum For Behavior Change for Sustainability
This is a self-paced course to learn about implementing interventions (on the university campus) to promote sustainability behavior change.
Competency focus
SDG Fitness Test – Key Competencies in Sustainability to Work Towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
This is a self-paced course to assess one’s level of literacy of the key competencies in sustainability. It is offered through the United Nations “SDG: Learn Platform”.
Sustainability Education Resource Portal
This is a self-paced professional development course to learn about the key competencies in sustainability. It is offered through the Sustainability Education Accreditation Commission.
Project-based pedagogies Designing Real-World Learning Experiences
This website offers instructors tested examples and practical guidance to incorporate real-world learning experiences into their teachings and develop collaborations with practice partners to co-create joint student-driven research projects.