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Higher education institutions across the world are increasingly placing an emphasis on students' acquisition of a broader range of skills or attributes within the taught curriculum, which should lead to a widening of their chances of academic success, in particular in the employment market. Among other issues, matters related to sustainable development are playing a key role, but many universities do not yet cater for integrative approaches, which may help them to approach sustainability issues in a transformative way. It is therefore necessary to develop new approaches and methods, which may address this gap. Based on the importance of meeting this perceived research need, this paper defines the role of project-oriented learning, also designated as Project Based Learning, as a tool to support integrative approaches to sustainability in a higher education context. The scientific value of the paper lies in the provision of some examples of successful approaches to Project Based Learning and the identification of some of the trends that characterise it. The paper makes clear why project-oriented learning should be more widely used in support of integrative approaches to sustainability, and why it needs to become part of the routine of higher education institutions. The outline of some of the initiatives recently and currently being undertaken may inspire others and assist in the implementation of Project Based Learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutes (HEIs) have made a deep commitment to prioritizing sustainable development (SD). Their task is to support practices that improve conditions in societies with respect to ecological, economic, and social issues, e.g., tackling the wicked problems of the world. In this case study, which took place at Feevale University (Feevale), Brazil, and at Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), Finland, the following topics were studied: (1) whether there are international and national SD steering policies that might be relevant to higher education development in these particular universities; (2) whether this steering has impacted HEI's own SD policy and steering; (3) whether such in-house operations are affecting SD content within curricula; and (4) how a pedagogic approach influences the incidence of SD-oriented content at the bachelor's degree level. The analysis of policy level data was based on international and national policy papers recognized separately in both universities. As an indicator of the university's level of commitment to sustainability activities, we measured the incidence level of UNECE's SD themes in the curriculum. A hermeneutical approach was applied to the analysis to demonstrate possible systemic interactions between (inter)national SD policy and SD education at HEIs. At HAMK, some evidence was found of a national level top-down steering process in the university's SD activities. At Feevale, the enhancing of SD education is more of a bottom-up process. International steering appeared to be weak in both universities. The study uses unique quantitative data to show how the incidence of SD content in the curriculum is related to the pedagogical approach in each university [content (Feevale) vs. competence (HAMK)]. It was concluded that differences in national SD steering policy and pedagogical approach in the HEI led to divergent curricula structures in relation to the volume of the SD education between the two HEIs. Regardless of such a divergence, an appropriate balance between epistemic and ethical SD competences should be guaranteed for all bachelors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education plays an important role in furthering the sustainability agenda, as reflected in a growing body of literature. While there have been several recent reviews of this work, these have been limited in scope and do not explicitly discuss implementations of sustainability in higher education curricula. In response, this paper presents a comprehensive, systematic review of the literature on integrating sustainability into curricula at both an undergraduate and postgraduate level of study in one particular subject area – engineering. A total of 247 articles, of which 70 were case reports, have been analyzed. Twelve future research questions emerged from the analysis, including: the exploration of the knowledge and value frameworks of students and teachers; the exploration of stakeholder influence, including by accreditation institutions, industry partners, parents, and society; and, the use of competencies to evaluate implementations. It is hoped that answering these questions will help to enhance education such that engineers are prepared, engaged, and empowered to confront the environmental, social, and economic challenges of the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While curricular assessments can give insight as to the extent sustainability is integrated into higher education study programs, issues remain regarding how assessments are conducted. Previous research has identified and compared various sustainability assessment tools for higher education, but there is a gap in the literature studying issues arising from measurement. This paper highlights the need for discussions on this topic by exploring validity issues arising from a case study and discusses the potential of utilizing a supplementary course file during curricular assessments. To achieve this objective, a KU Leuven Faculty of Economics and Business program has been assessed using two different approaches, namely 1) a scan of a European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) file and 2) an instructor self-assessment via a supplementary course file. Based on this research, these two approaches to curricular assessment yield substantially different results, which gives rise to the need to further consider the validity of such assessments. While utilizing an instructor self-assessment (e.g., a supplementary course file) during assessments can help overcome some potential shortcomings and biases of ECTS file scans, both approaches are flawed in assessing true sustainability integration into a program. The varying conceptualizations of sustainability and the lack of uniformly adopted assessment approaches has the potential to create validity issues with the assessment of sustainability in higher education. Acknowledging sustainable development as a contested concept, and developing a faculty-specific conceptualization, can help in approaching assessments in a meaningful way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the importance of Nature-Based Solutions for climate change adaptation (NBaS) is being increasingly acknowledged, very few studies investigate the status of these solutions in higher education syllabi. In an effort to bridge this gap, this study assessed the position of the NBaS notion in French Master's programs. Based on a survey questionnaire, several interviews and a text mining analysis of the Master's contents, this paper identified, localised and analysed the French Masters that presented links with NBaS related concepts. This analysis revealed that the notion of NBaS is far from being mastered. This might be caused by a conceptual misunderstanding of definitions. While text mining revealed that the building blocks of the NBaS framework are present, much still needs to be done for connecting them together. A combined analysis of the findings derived from this study led to recommendations to better introduce NBaS in Masters programs in the future. • The term of Nature-Based (adaptation) Solution is far for being well mastered. • Based on the existing definition, the concept should also be better explained. • Few courses are actually dedicated to climate change and how to adapt to it. • The complexity of the environments across scales has to be taken into account. • NBaS require a transition from silo approaches to multidisciplinary frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many students who enter college are insufficiently prepared to follow a demanding college-level curriculum. Thus, higher education institutions often require low-performing students to repeat failed courses, a full term, or even a full year. This paper is the first to investigate the effects of such a “(grade) retention” policy on student performance in higher education. We study a setting where first-year undergraduates who fall short of a pre-defined performance requirement have to repeat all first-year courses before they can proceed to the second year. To determine the causal effect of retention and repetition on student performance, we apply a sharp regression discontinuity design to administrative data from a Swiss university. Based on a sample of 5000 students, we find that grade retention increases dropout probabilities after the first year by about 10 percentage points. Repetition of a full year persistently boosts grade point averages by about 0.5 standard deviations, but does not affect study pace and major choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability in Higher Education has been investigated mainly through examining institutional approaches, curricula content, or students' and teachers' perceptions of sustainability in practice. However, a deep characterisation of the foundations of this phenomenon is lacking. This article aims to address the existing lack of depth and comprehensiveness by identifying and categorising the critical attributes of Sustainability in Higher Education. Categories are the basic levels for knowledge classification, and critical attributes relate to the main perceived characteristics within categories. Both were structured through a literature review and a systematic analysis using the Proknow-C method. A set of 2513 studies on sustainability in education and related fields, published between 2000 and 2015, enabled the identification of 259 as appropriate for devising four categories: foundations, knowledge, personal, and integrative assets with 4, 4, 4, and 3 attributes respectively. From these, 129 papers presented at least four relationships among attributes of all categories. An assessment between the attributes identified for the selected studies delivered 85 analyses, with the following findings: (i) epistemologies of Sustainability in Higher Education develop in learning context; (ii) creativity should better link foundational and personal assets; (iii) transdisciplinarity is an epistemic transgression; (iv) resilience of active learners emerges in knowledge and personal assets relationships; (v) knowledge deconstruction and affectiveness form active learning; (vi) personal assets need to fit to complex dynamics of reality. Our analysis provides a means of benchmarking existing practice for Sustainability in Higher Education, and can be used as the basis for building capacity in a systematic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities and colleges have many global and local imperatives that attend the design of courses. These include industry-linked curriculum, institution wide graduate attributes, learning-focused approaches, professional accreditation requirements and increasingly, the need for work-ready graduates who are able to become lifelong learners on their exit from formal studies. Approaches to the design of study units in higher education has been the subject of considerable scrutiny over recent decades. This paper presents a framework which seeks to capture the ‘lived experience’ and practice wisdom of educational design. It situates the framework for contemporary learning design in the context of the various imperatives within higher education, offering some points of entry by which educators may draw together the many, sometimes competing, requirements and syntheses these with good practice in curriculum and pedagogy. It is envisaged that the use of this framework, by academic in the development, renewal and delivery of their higher education course and programs, will result in learning design and delivery that will build the confidence needed not just in our graduates but in our institutions and their profound and crucial role in the contemporary world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research presented in this paper emerged from the need to identify the factors influencing academic staff members when engaging in Education for Sustainable Development in real practice. The aims of this study were to explore: (i) the factors influencing academic staff engagement in Education for Sustainable Development; and (ii) the views and vision of academic staff in relation to Education for Sustainable Development at the University of Southampton. This research was conceived as an exploratory action research study and consisted of two differentiated research stages. In Stage I fourteen academic staff members from different disciplines were interviewed as a reconnaissance phase of a typical action research cycle. In Stage II a facilitator role for curriculum development was adopted by one of the authors as part of her doctoral studies. An interdisciplinary group of five academic staff members from different subject areas was created with the aim to support the group's critical reflection and action. This research was undertaken between October 2011 and May 2013. This study suggests that although academics might have a personal interest and motivation to engage in Education for Sustainable Development, factors such as the lack of time and financial resources, lack of deep understanding of sustainability, current curriculum structures and ways of delivery, academic pressures, external factors, lack of organisational support and existing organisational conditions block their engagement in Education for Sustainable Development. Organisational support and leadership, quality assurance processes, professional development and creating reward structures are necessary strategies towards academic staff engagement in this agenda. This study provides evidence on different views and visions of academics in relation to Education for Sustainable Development and a number of contradictions between its principles and the role of Higher Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]