Analysis of sustainability presence in Spanish higher education

Bibliographic Data

ID21721167
AuthorsFermín Sánchez-Carracedo (0000-0001-6954-7643, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), Bàrbara Sureda Carbonell (0000-0001-8691-3721, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), Francisco M Moreno-Pino (0000-0001-6310-7700, Universidad de Cádiz)
Year2020
Volume21
Issue2
Pages393-412
Publication date2020-01-29
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1467-6370 • E-ISSN: 1758-6739
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/ijshe-10-2019-0321
OpenAlexW3005505577
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited27

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the presence of sustainability in 16 Spanish higher education curricula in the fields of education and engineering. Design/methodology/approach The methodology uses two instruments: sustainability map and sustainability presence map. These instruments enable analysis of the number of subjects that develop sustainability and the sustainability presence level in each curriculum; identification of what domain levels of the learning taxonomy sustainability is most developed; and analysis of whether a correlation exists between the sustainability presence and the number of subjects that develop sustainability in each curriculum. Findings A wide variety of subjects develop sustainability in a given degree, depending on the university. The presence of sustainability is more homogeneous in education degrees than in engineering degrees. Education degrees have a greater presence of sustainability in the lower domain levels of taxonomy, while in engineering degrees the lower levels of taxonomy have a lower presence of sustainability than the higher levels. Finally, a correlation appears to exist between the number of subjects that develop sustainability in the curriculum and the sustainability presence. However, engineering degrees seem to need fewer subjects than education degrees to achieve the same degree of sustainability presence. Originality/value This paper proposes a methodology to measure sustainability presence that can be applicable to the curricula of a higher education degree if the corresponding sustainability map is available. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the largest study yet conducted to analyze the presence of sustainability in different higher education curricula

Biology · Curriculum · Economic growth · Economics · Engineering ethics · Environmental Sustainability Index · Higher education · Management science · Originality · Pedagogy · Qualitative research · Social science · Social sustainability · Sociology · Sustainability · Sustainability organizations · Sustainability science · Computer Science · Engineering · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Higher Education and Sustainability · Sustainability in Higher Education · Ecology

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