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- How to integrate sustainability teaching and learning in higher education Institutions?: from context to action for transformation towards SDGs implementation: a literature reviewPublication . Pires, Sara Moreno; Nicolau, Mariana; Mapar, Mahsa; Dias, Marta Ferreira; Horta, Dina; Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Caeiro, Sandra; Patrizi, Nicoletta; Pulselli, Federico M.; Galli, Alessandro; Malandrakis, Georgios
- Teaching sustainability within the context of everyday life: steps toward achieving the sustainable development goals through the EUSTEPs modulePublication . Moreno Pires, Sara; Mapar, Mahsa; Nicolau, Mariana; Patrizi, N.; Malandrakis, Georgios; Pulselli, Federico; Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Caeiro, Sandra; Niccolucci, V.; Theodossiou, N. P.; Mancini, Maria Serena; Galli, AllessandroIn a world characterized by Ecological Overshoot, education can nurture sustainability-minded citizens and future leaders to help accelerate the transition towards a one-planet compatible society. Despite the essential role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in contributing to a sustainable society, a holistic understanding of how to incorporate sustainability initiatives into HEIs is still lacking. Given the importance of HEIs in societies and considering the number of students, educators, and staff they host every day, ensuring that sustainability is both taught and practiced within campuses becomes fundamental. To this end, a strategic partnership was created in 2019 to set up the ERASMUS+ project EUSTEPs - Enhancing Universities’ Sustainability Teaching and Practices through Ecological Footprint. Among the main outputs of the project is a teaching module for introducing the sustainability concept to students. This module takes a 360-degree approach to teach sustainability, allowing students to endogenously realize the full complexity of sustainability, in an engaging and captivating manner. This paper thus aims to: 1) present the EUSTEPs Module, its pedagogical approach and structure, and the learning outcomes and competencies students are expected to gain; 2) review the outcomes of its first pilot teaching in four European HEIs, and 3) shed light on how this Module contributes to the development of competences and pedagogical approaches for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our findings show that 90% of the students were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the Module, rating the Ecological Footprint as the most useful teaching tool among those included in the Module, and appreciated the interactive nature of the proposed teaching. Feedback obtained from students during the pilot teaching contributed to shaping the Module’s final structure and content. The Module – an important interactive sustainability pedagogical tool – is now ready for use with students from different disciplines, thus contributing to progress towards the UN 2030 Agenda, particularly SDG 4, SDG 11, SDG 12, and SDG 13.
- Empowering non-academic staff for the implementation of sustainability in higher education institutionsPublication . Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Mapar, Mahsa; Caeiro, Sandra; Moreno Pires, Sara; Nicolau, Mariana; Madeira, Catarina; Dias, Marta Ferreira; Gomes, Ana Paula; Lopes, Myriam; Nadais, Helena; Malandrakis, GeorgiosSustainability within higher education institutions (HEIs) is a well-established topic in the literature. Many fields of education for sustainable development have been explored, mainly focused on HEI students, as well as on academic staff. The technical, administrative, and management staff, referred to as non-academic staff has not received as much attention as the remaining HEI community, which leaves a gap in the successful implementation of sustainability practices and policies, as they play a vital and central role in the HEIs’ everyday functioning. Hence, the EUSTEPs project launched two sustainability training courses dedicated exclusively to this segment of the university community, aiming to increase their knowledge on facts and tools for the best sustainability transition. The first short-term online training, organized by the University of Aveiro and Universidade Aberta, Portugal, was run in May 2021. The training targeted 27 non-academic staff from different sectors. The second online training course was implemented one year later and involved 17 elements from the previous training. The results showed very high levels of overall satisfaction and full achievement of the participants’ expectations in sustainability issues. The non-academic staff learned and discussed the human–environment relationship, tracked and discussed their personal ecological footprint in the workspace, actively participated on how to run the university ecological footprint calculator, developed within the EUSTEPs project, and felt mobilized to implement actions to reduce their university’s environmental impacts (as well as in their general daily activities). Similar training programs can be used to impower non-academic staff for the implementation of sustainability in other higher education institutions, hence contributing to a successful integrated sustainability approach for the whole school.