Developing Undergraduate Foundation Courses in Sustainability

Abstract

In 1992 the governments of the world committed themselves to pursue sustainable development at the Rio Earth Summit and education was promoted as playing a key role. The commitment was reaffirmed at subsequent summits culminating with the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 which included a specific goal on education. This paper examines how strategic changes can integrate the idea of sustainability into a range of programs at universities. A specific case study is used based on a first year course in environmental sustainability that the author convenes for a large and diverse group of undergraduate students from across all areas of the university. It is argued that in their future professional life, graduates have the potential to be agents of change by helping to transform the state, the private sector, and the community. This analysis is undertaken using the theoretical framework of ecological modernisation that underpins the idea of sustainability, offers a strategic pathway to transform public-private-community interactions, and approaches sustainability as a design challenge. The somewhat ambitious goal is to synthesise the empirical evidence, the practical experience, and theoretical framework into a coherent whole.