Sustainability leadership programs in higher education: alumni outcomes and impacts

Abstract

The diverse set of college and university sustainability leadership programs, which represent a growing trend in higher education, share a common goal: building skills and knowledge for aspiring environmental and sustainability professionals. However, there is little empirical research available to shape program design and implementation. To address this gap, this study builds on sustainability leadership and core competency research as well as previous analysis from the perspective of sustainability leadership program directors with the first evaluation of these programs from the perspective of alumni. The results reveal high expectations for knowledge development and skill building, which are largely being met by programs. Alumni display strong affinity for their programs and report high levels of basic sustainability knowledge and skills upon completion of the program. However, there are significant gaps between program outcomes and perceived needs in the workplace in practice and theory. Despite the realization of program directors that communication skills are the most important outcome of their programs, sustainability leadership programs tend to overemphasize self-reflection/assessment when compared to needs in the workplace. Conversely, these programs tend to underemphasize negotiation, public speaking, facilitation, and coalition-building skills from the perspective of alumni. These gaps likely result from mismatches between faculty competencies and preferences compared to the multiple audiences that these programs serve. Moreover, the literature on core competencies does not provide distinctions between competencies at this scale nor from the perspective of practitioners. Future research on the effectiveness of sustainability leadership programs from the perspective of employers and change-related outcomes would help fill these gaps and improve program design and implementation in addition to better informing the theoretical literature.