Abstract
PurposeScientific Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) literature provides some examples of LCA teaching in higher education, but not a structured overview of LCA teaching contents and related competencies. Hence this paper aims at assessing and highlighting trends in LCA learning outcomes, teaching approaches and developed content used to equip graduates for their future professional practices in sustainability.MethodsBased on a literature review on teaching LCA in higher education and a collaborative consensus building approach through expert group panel discussions, an overview of LCA learning and competency levels with related teaching contents and corresponding workload is developed. The levels are built on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and Bloom’s taxonomy of learning.Results and discussionThe paper frames five LCA learning and competency levels that differ in terms of study program integration, workload, cognitive domain categories, learning outcomes, and envisioned professional skills. It furthermore provides insights into teaching approaches and content, including software use, related to these levels.Conclusions and recommendationsThis paper encourages and supports higher educational bodies to implement a minimum of ‘life cycle literacy’ into students’ curriculum across various domains by increasing the availability, visibility and quality of their teaching on life cycle thinking and LCA.
Highlights
Throughout the last decades, a shift in many societies has been seen with politicians introducing stronger regulations focusing on sustainability aspects, customers demanding more sustainable products and companies increasingly offer‐ ing sustainable products (Mittelstaedt et al 2014)
This paper aims to fill this gap and intends to shed some light on life cycle assessment (LCA) teaching in higher education by answering the research question: What LCA learning outcomes, teaching approaches and contents can be recommended to equip graduates for their respective future professional practices?
This review reveals the current state of scientific discourse on teaching LCA and provides a basis for expert panel based assessment in later sections of this paper
Summary
Throughout the last decades, a shift in many societies has been seen with politicians introducing stronger regulations focusing on sustainability aspects, customers demanding more sustainable products and companies increasingly offer‐ ing sustainable products (Mittelstaedt et al 2014). Conse‐ quently, there is a need for sustainability professionals, who can guide institutions and organizations of all types and sizes through a transition process towards sustainable societies. In this setting, universities play an important role. Around the world, they have reacted to these increasing societal needs with the development of entire sustainability programs and/or introduction of sustainability aspects into their exist‐ ing curricula (Shriberg and MacDonald 2013). Life cycle thinking and the associated life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology are increasingly taught to
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