Key Competencies for Sustainability in University of Iceland Curriculum

Abstract

Sustainable development is growingly being developed in universities around the world. The United Nations presented eight Sustainability Key Competencies (SKCs) that represent cross-cutting competencies crucial to advance sustainable development and achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The aim of this research is to know to what extent the University of Iceland courses seem to include the emphasis of the SKCs, either in the course description text or the learning outcomes. Data collection took place in early 2020 and included analysing every single university’s course description text and learning outcomes using a curriculum analysis key for SKCs. Results show that proportionally, most signs of SKCs were found for SKC 3 (Normative competency) in 53% of courses in the university, and SKC 6 (Critical thinking competency) in 46% of the university’s courses. For individual schools of the university, the far highest proportion of signs of SKC was found for the School of Education (5.0 signs per course) and the relatively fewest for the School of Humanities (1.1 sign per course). The results are discussed both in relation to identified competencies needed for the pressing sustainability problems humanity faces, and in the light of a discrepancy appearing between the university’s ranking according to Times Higher Education University Ranking by citations, research, and teaching, and the proportional signs of individual SKCs within the University of Iceland.

Students’ learning sustainability – implicit, explicit or non-existent: a case study approach on students’ key competencies addressing the SDGs in HEI program

“…This research aimed to understand better student awareness and knowledge on how the SDGs are used in HEIs to motivate students’ learning on sustainability. Just as Pálsdóttir and Jóhannsdóttir (2021) highlighted the importance of the five competencies in their investigation into University of Iceland curriculum, the five competencies are deemed to support a transition toward sustainability. It is essential to consider students’ understanding of sustainability at the end of their studies to understand whether they feel prepared to apply sustainability in their daily work life.…”

Sustainability: A Public Policy, a Concept, or a Competence? Efforts on the Implementation of Sustainability as a Transversal Competence throughout Higher Education Programs

“…The study aims to provide guidance to support institutions in the transition process towards sustainability. This research work creates awareness so that higher education institutions can take responsibility and commit more to the SDGs [12,14,18].…”

“…The second study by Redman et al structured the field of sustainability competency assessment and provided a criteria-based overview of the currently used tools, through a systematic literature review of 75 studies that detail the use of an assessment tool [17]. Finally, the third study by Pálsdóttir and Jóhannsdóttir identified competencies that should be fostered through university teaching and learning, and showed that twelve key competencies are crucial for sustainable development, including those for systemic thinking, anticipatory thinking, and critical thinking [18].…”

“…There are four fundamental pillars of the model: (a) CBL; (b) flexibility; (c) trained and inspiring teachers; and (d) comprehensive and memorable educational experiences [21,[23][24][25][26]29]. The implementation of experiential learning experiences such as i-Week and i-Semester which expose students to challenging experiences with or without the support of training partners [18] were initially without a sustainability perspective and were maintained in the conceptual development of activities. However, with the evolution of sustainability as a transversal axis to all careers, the experiences of CBL were modified accordingly creating in the students a sustainability competence in any field of the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social).…”

The Convergence Model of Education for Sustainability in the Transition to Digital Economy

“…Thus, educational institutions are realizing the idea of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also requires the identification of urgent socio-ecological problems, planning and development of educational programs [7][8][9][10][11].…”