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A systemic approach to incorporate sustainability into university courses and curricula

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Author

Summary, in English

This article is based on an analysis of Lund University that took place during the summer and autumn of 2004 (available for download at www.iiiee.lu.se, click library and publications). The university had experienced a loss of momentum in their progress regarding environmental issues. The purpose of the study was to identify barriers to including sustainability-related content throughout Lund University curricula, and eventually to develop solutions to eliminate/overcome these barriers. The article describes how Meadows' "Places to intervene in a system" [Meadows D. Leverage points: places to intervene in a system. Hartland, VT, USA: Sustainability Institute; 1999] was used as a tool to systematically discover these barriers. The same intervention places are used as a basis for deriving solutions to eliminate/overcome the barriers. The main conclusions of this article are that Meadows list can be a useful tool to a. systematically identify and characterise the barriers towards achieving the organisational objective of incorporating SD into courses and curricula; b. identify ways to overcome these barriers; c. increase chances that these barriers are addressed with sufficient leverage. The authors also experienced that the work method described here provides excellent fuel for creativity. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publishing year

2006

Language

English

Pages

797-809

Publication/Series

Journal of Cleaner Production

Volume

14

Issue

9-11

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Keywords

  • curriculum changes
  • sustainability in higher education
  • leverage points
  • university curricula
  • sustainable development
  • system interventions
  • higher education
  • organisational analysis

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0959-6526