Drivers and Barriers of Implementing Sustainability Curricula in Higher Education - Assumptions and Evidence
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In: Higher Education Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, 12.03.2021, p. 42 - 64.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Transfer › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Drivers and Barriers of Implementing Sustainability Curricula in Higher Education - Assumptions and Evidence
AU - Weiß, Marie
AU - Barth, Matthias
AU - Wiek, Arnim
AU - Wehrden, Henrik
PY - 2021/3/12
Y1 - 2021/3/12
N2 - Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends, in part, on the sustainability competencies of professionals in various fields, and thus, on the implementation of sustainability curricula in higher education. While many universities now offer sustainability curricula, and many more aspire to, there is a lack of evidence on what supports or hinders such implementation. This article presents a meta-study on 133 case studies from universities around the world and synthesizes the main drivers and barriers, identifies information gaps, and tests prominent assumptions on implementing sustainability curricula in higher education. The findings confirm that such implementation is associated with strong leadership by the university; incentives and support through professional development; concurrent implementation of sustainability in research, campus operations, and outreach; formal involvement of internal and external stakeholders as well as sustainability champions, among others. Common research protocols for case studies are needed to yield comparable data on these influencing variables and to enhance reliability of cross-case comparisons. Most sustainability programs could utilize the findings for informing their implementation processes.
AB - Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends, in part, on the sustainability competencies of professionals in various fields, and thus, on the implementation of sustainability curricula in higher education. While many universities now offer sustainability curricula, and many more aspire to, there is a lack of evidence on what supports or hinders such implementation. This article presents a meta-study on 133 case studies from universities around the world and synthesizes the main drivers and barriers, identifies information gaps, and tests prominent assumptions on implementing sustainability curricula in higher education. The findings confirm that such implementation is associated with strong leadership by the university; incentives and support through professional development; concurrent implementation of sustainability in research, campus operations, and outreach; formal involvement of internal and external stakeholders as well as sustainability champions, among others. Common research protocols for case studies are needed to yield comparable data on these influencing variables and to enhance reliability of cross-case comparisons. Most sustainability programs could utilize the findings for informing their implementation processes.
KW - Sustainability education
KW - barries
KW - curriculum change
KW - drivers
KW - Education for sustainable development
KW - universities
KW - sustainablitiy
KW - Higher education institution
KW - meta-analysis
KW - sustainability curricula implementation process
U2 - 10.5539/hes.v11n2p42
DO - 10.5539/hes.v11n2p42
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 11
SP - 42
EP - 64
JO - Higher Education Studies
JF - Higher Education Studies
SN - 1925-4741
IS - 2
ER -