Integrating Sustainability Development Issues into University Curriculum

Introduction

Sustainability is an important issue to be addressed by the accreditation agencies in order to ensure quality education at the degree programs offered by universities. Their joint effort needs to be focused to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and achieving a common sustainable future for current and future generations (Vasile et al., 2007; Vasile, 2012; Hysa, 2013; Matei, 2013; Hysa & Mansi, 2020; Fu et al., 2021; Khan et al., 2021; Vasile et al., 2021; Avram & Hysa, 2022; Panait et al., 2022). The curriculum should strengthen student engagement and encourage sustainable activities. Universities need to support problem-solving research and raise awareness on sustainability among academic and administrative staff. However, sustainable entrepreneurship or eco-innovation still receives less support from universities, as the phenomenon is at an early phase of development (Fichter & Tiemann, 2018; Räty et al., 2019; Qazi et al., 2020).

Sustainability as a complex and new paradigm is influencing all sectors and activities of society. Higher Education institutions play a leading role globally in sustainability to promote, explore, assess, and interpret it. Accordingly, the interest of universities in both improving their sustainability performance and reflecting the notion in the curriculum to teach and research the issue is increasing. In present-day conditions, when modern society has to tackle urgent economic, social, and ecological challenges, sustainability has become a significant global issue. Therefore, sustainable development has attracted the attention of the education sector to shape sustainable society but also created challenges for academics, and administration (Sengupta & Blessinger, 2019; Fissi et al., 2021; Dobrowolski et al., 2022). Higher Education Institutions have a pivotal role to drive economic growth and promote sustainable development. Universities are able not only to reduce their negative influence on the environment, society, or economy (Leal Filho et al., 2019b) but most importantly, they can implement sustainability practices in curricula, education programs, and research activities (Stough et al., 2018; Gigauri et al., 2021). Thus, their contribution to advancing sustainability in a given society is immense.

Universities can encourage the transition of societies to sustainability. The presence of sustainability development subjects is limited in the education sector in both teaching and research. Previous studies demonstrated that universities offer fewer academic courses and projects in sustainability sciences and emphasized the need for sustainability culture in universities (Priyadarshini & Abhilash, 2020), and “systematic coordination” between teaching courses and research activities (Fissi et al., 2021) to support sustainability initiatives. Recent research revealed that although sustainable development might be involved in educational programs, they still lack the SDGs in the syllabi or curriculum (Leal Filho et al., 2021). Thus, there is a need to increase awareness about sustainable development in HEIs as well as to improve teaching and learning about the topic, which is only possible by the Accreditation system.

Moreover, the researchers recommend further studies to explore the integration of SDGs in curricula in different countries and regions as well as the role of HEIs in the implementation of sustainability (Sonetti et al., 2021).