Abstract
Sustainable development is growingly being developed in universities around the world. The United Nations presented eight Sustainability Key Competencies (SKCs) that represent cross-cutting competencies crucial to advance sustainable development and achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The aim of this research is to know to what extent the University of Iceland courses seem to include the emphasis of the SKCs, either in the course description text or the learning outcomes. Data collection took place in early 2020 and included analysing every single university’s course description text and learning outcomes using a curriculum analysis key for SKCs. Results show that proportionally, most signs of SKCs were found for SKC 3 (Normative competency) in 53% of courses in the university, and SKC 6 (Critical thinking competency) in 46% of the university’s courses. For individual schools of the university, the far highest proportion of signs of SKC was found for the School of Education (5.0 signs per course) and the relatively fewest for the School of Humanities (1.1 sign per course). The results are discussed both in relation to identified competencies needed for the pressing sustainability problems humanity faces, and in the light of a discrepancy appearing between the university’s ranking according to Times Higher Education University Ranking by citations, research, and teaching, and the proportional signs of individual SKCs within the University of Iceland.
Highlights
The need of modern society to solve complex challenges has never been more pressing.Universities play a key role in fostering sustainable development [1], and it is considered the fundamental responsibility of universities to engage in the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2], including moral imperatives ensuring the success of the SDGs as part of their social missions and core functions [3,4].1.1
The eight SKCs expound what sustainability citizens need to possess to be able to deal with today’s complex challenges. They are assessed to be relevant to all SDGs and enable individuals to relate the different SDGs to each other, i.e., to see “the big picture” of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [9]. With these SKCs in mind, the aim of this research is to know to what extent the University of Iceland courses seem to include the emphasis of the Sustainability Key Competencies, generally seen as crucial to advance sustainable development, either in the course description text or its learning outcomes
The results are presented in three sections, first for the University of Iceland as a whole, for each school of the University, and for each Sustainability Key Competency (SKC)
Summary
The need of modern society to solve complex challenges has never been more pressing.Universities play a key role in fostering sustainable development [1], and it is considered the fundamental responsibility of universities to engage in the realisation of the SDGs [2], including moral imperatives ensuring the success of the SDGs as part of their social missions and core functions [3,4].1.1. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Their Implementation in Universities. In the United Nations (UN) Agenda for Sustainable Development, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are presented that describe major development challenges crucial for the survival of humanity [8]. For the goals to be reached, humans require a profound transformation of how to think and act. To be able to do so, people need to require the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that empower them to contribute to sustainable development. It is stated that education is crucial for the achievement of sustainable development. “not all kinds of education support sustainable development.
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