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Development of an educational model for sustainability science: challenges in the Mind–Skills–Knowledge education at Ibaraki University

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Abstract

Modern society confronts multiple sustainability challenges, including population growth, resources limitations, and a deteriorating environment. As a response, sustainability science education plays a major role in developing human capacity to manage these issues. This paper proposes the concept of “sustainability science education across Mind–Skills–Knowledge” as well as the competencies to be acquired and its pedagogy. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of such an educational system and its method of implementation using the example of the Graduate Program on Sustainability Science (GPSS), which was started at Ibaraki University in 2009.

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Notes

  1. The IR3S and SSC play major roles in establishing sustainability science in Japan (http://www.ir3s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ and http://ssc-g.net/). Refer to Kates et al. (2001), Clark and Dickson (2003), Clark (2007), and Choucri et al. (2007) for sustainability science outside of Japan.

  2. In order to increase involvement, both undergraduate and doctoral programs should be institutionalized. Nevertheless, each course has a specific social role and the approach for sustainability education differs between them. The courses in sustainability education should be tailored according to the students’ stage of education. This paper discusses the master’s course because it is suitable for students to acquire a good balance of T-type competencies.

  3. Wiek et al. (2011), which provides a comprehensive review of key competencies, is one of the pioneering studies about sustainability education. According to Wiek et al. (2011), key competencies are composed of systems-thinking competence, anticipatory competence, normative competence, strategic competence, and interpersonal competence. Wiek et al. (2011) emphasize the problem-solving competencies that distinguish sustainability education from conventional education and classifies the competencies so that each student can effectively solve problems by integrating knowledge and analysis. Their classification is very similar to the MSK education in that most sub-competencies correspond with those of MSK education. However, the difference is the prioritization of competencies. Our discussion focuses more on “expertise,” in that each student is derived from a different background. Therefore, we regard “interpersonal competence” in Wiek et al. (2011) as the combining competence that all students can make the maximum use of their expertise and collaborate with others for pursuing a sustainable society.

  4. Although there are several opinions about the origin of the “T-type education,” this educational model has achieved acceptance lately as demonstrated by the “Environmental Consortium for Leadership Development (EcoLeaD)” funded by the Ministry of the Environment (http://www.eco-lead.jp/).

  5. There are several sustainability education programs in Japan. Onuki and Mino (2009) and Uwasu et al. (2009) introduce the cases of the University of Tokyo and Osaka University, respectively. Mino and Shimoda (2011) characterizes five universities (the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Osaka University, Hokkaido University, and Ibaraki University) in Japan. The numbers of educational programs in sustainability are growing all over the world, such as Arizona State University and Harvard University in the United States; Lund University, Sweden; Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany; the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain; and Stellenbosch University, South Africa (see, e.g., Segalàs et al. 2009).

  6. Ibaraki University is well positioned to promote cooperation among all departments through these capacities: (1) the Institute for Global Change Adaptation Science, which was established as the research and education center for sustainability science in 2006, prior to the start of the GPSS; (2) the GPSS, which is authorized to promote projects for reform of the university’s graduate schools; (3) the “University Education Program for the Development of Environment Specialists,” from which the university can acquire funding, is supported by the Ministry of the Environment (F.Y. 2008–2010). These conditions, such as the research motivation, organization, and funding, could be the driver.

  7. Posters were written in both English and Thai, so as to make them understandable to the villagers. Thai students positively acted as the intermediaries between the Japanese students and the villagers.

  8. More precisely, “human power” refers to the “basic ability of a member of society,” which is the social ability sought by companies in Japan today.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is one of the products of the “University Education Program for the Development of Environment Specialists” project funded by the Ministry of the Environment (F.Y. 2008–2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute for Global Change Adaptation Science (ICAS), Ibaraki University, 2-1-1 Bunkyo, Mito, Ibaraki, 310-8512, Japan

    Makoto Tamura

  2. College of Sustainable System Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Nakaku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8531, Japan

    Takahide Uegaki

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  1. Makoto Tamura
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  2. Takahide Uegaki
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Correspondence to Makoto Tamura.

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Handled by Takashi Mino, The University of Tokyo, Japan.

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Tamura, M., Uegaki, T. Development of an educational model for sustainability science: challenges in the Mind–Skills–Knowledge education at Ibaraki University. Sustain Sci 7, 253–265 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-011-0156-y

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