With the growth of sustainability learning experiences on offer, it was clear that student perceptions of what the sector is developing would be important in this project.
Our EfS Co-ordinator (student role within the project team) carried out a desk-based review to explore what is visible to an ordinary student looking for information on EfS as part of their choice of university or course, or in looking at what is on offer where they are already studying.
Method and questions
The review sampled public websites and documents from 35 UK universities who have started to develop EfS in their courses – including the 3 project partners – to explore 2 central questions:
- Mainstreaming – are universities setting targets to reach all courses and students? EfS offered as options or bolt-on learning outside the main course of study will not reach all students and may not make an effective bridge from sustainability into their core learning.
- Quality – are universities developing and monitoring an authentic EfS offer? EfS has the aim of joined-up sustainability that does not treat issues of the environment, society and economy as separate and that is integral to core course aims and objectives.
Institutions were invited to respond to findings from online public information and clarify or expand on their approaches. The review also looked at sustainability league tables and assessments that students might see when exploring EfS development in UK universities, and EfS support initiatives run by the charity SOS-UK.
Headline findings
- More than half of the universities sampled now have targets to integrate sustainability into all courses, but mostly as optional learning and few focus on the whole course at all levels.
- The majority of early adopters are co-ordinating sustainability learning around the themes of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, taking an issue-by-issue approach.
- Increasingly universities are starting to audit their progress but these methods are in their infancy and most are geared to the measurement of UN SDG issues in teaching content.
- A growing number of universities have developed an introductory sustainability learning module outside the core course portfolio, with some aiming to make these credit-bearing.
- Only a small number of universities have strategies and targets aimed at the development of a more complete approach to EfS in course design and pedagogy.
- Of the sustainability league rankings most visible for UK universities, the People & Planet league is the only one rewarding universities for strategic work to embed EfS across courses.
- Universities using auditing methodologies and support services from external bodies such as SOS-UK are not adopting consistent approaches that compare like-with-like for students.
The student perspective spotlighted how framing EfS in courses in ways that allow excess variation does not really help them to understand where they will find good quality sustainability learning that does not treat issues in silos and that reaches the heart of the course experience and the study journey.
Full review
Read the full report.
Sector actors
Read about policy and guidance on EfS.