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Embedding a sustainable mindset in the student experience
Abertay University has implemented change across its academic programmes to embed sustainable development goals as a core part of the student experience.
In 2023, each academic programme team was reviewed to identify examples of module content that addressed sustainability issues with a view to better mapping how students were learning.
This brought forward a series of examples of good practice which were then shared across the institution with a view to learning being implemented in other areas or sparking fresh thinking. Some these included:
- Sport for Development includes a weekly topic covering sustainable development through sport, which focuses on issues surrounding sustainability and how sport for development can be used to promote climate action.
- Students across games, computing and cybersecurity programmes take part in talks on ‘green computing’ during their modules and are also taught to avoid redundancy in code to minimise computing power usage and improve efficiency.
- Civil and Environmental Engineering students are heavily engaged in sustainable development across their programmes. Their impact assessment task requires resolving problems that consist of various environmental, social and economic criteria.
- Psychology students attend dedicated lectures on the environment and campaigning, including a focus on mental health.
- Food Science students learn about food choices from a global perspective, including considering how to measure and assess global influences on world consumption trends; sustainability issues that arise from food production methods and consumption trends; nutrition transition and dietary food choices; the role of culture and society on food choices explored; and developing, emerging and industrialised countries.
- Business Management students are taught to understand current societal and political factors driving organisations to reduce environmental impact and also to create and implement strategies to reduce an organisations carbon footprint.
- Biomedical Science students learn about the socio-ecological implications of healthcare decisions and how to critically engage with current research and foster sustainable practices within the medical realm.
Going forward the University is shifting to a model where all module design and delivery will consider the application and integration of UN SDGs. In collaboration with Abertay’s AbLE Academy, programme and module leaders will also continue to develop case studies of best practice that could be shared across the institution to initiate further good practice.
Dean of Teaching and Learning, Professor Luke Millard said:
Abertay University is committed to embedding sustainable development across all academic programmes, ensuring students are equipped with a sustainability-focused mindset in their studies and future careers. Through collaboration and sharing of best practices, we are making sustainability a foundational element of the student experience across every discipline.
