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Academic Freedom, Bureaucracy and Procedures: The Challenge of Curriculum Development for Sustainability

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Challenges in Higher Education for Sustainability

Part of the book series: Management and Industrial Engineering ((MINEN))

Abstract

In 2013, a group of colleagues at Nottingham Trent University (NTU)—a large UK HEI—was tasked with embedding sustainability throughout the institution. The options available to us were manifold, as were the challenges. In this chapter, we discuss these challenges and how we addressed them. This involved delivering an internal online course in four sessions, offered to all NTU students (over 25,000), addressing the main elements of sustainability using relevant issues in nearly 100 disciplines, from Astrophysics to Business to Decorative Arts. After completing the online course, our students have the opportunity to submit an assignment in order to obtain the Sustainability in Practice (SiP) certificate in addition to their degree. The assignment requires them to create either a video, a poster or a mood board, in which they reflect how their discipline engages with food and sustainability. In the next iteration, the focus of the assignment will switch to how their discipline helps to solve sustainability challenges. As we enter our third year of operation, this and other improvements will be highlighted, along with the underlying rationale.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Prof Chris Pole, Prof Eunice Simmons, Helen Puntha, Beverley Lawe, Amanda Smith, Julia Davies, Prof Tim Cooper, Dr Roy Smith, Trevor Welsh, Grant Anderson, the NTSU especially Charlotte Greening and all other students and staff at NTU for their input into the Sustainability in Pratice Certificate. Please confirm, thanks, Petra.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, UK

    Petra Molthan-Hill, Aldilla Dharmasasmita & Fiona M. Winfield

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  1. Petra Molthan-Hill
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  2. Aldilla Dharmasasmita
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  3. Fiona M. Winfield
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Correspondence to Petra Molthan-Hill .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    J. Paulo Davim

  2. Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Molthan-Hill, P., Dharmasasmita, A., Winfield, F.M. (2016). Academic Freedom, Bureaucracy and Procedures: The Challenge of Curriculum Development for Sustainability. In: Davim, J., Leal Filho, W. (eds) Challenges in Higher Education for Sustainability. Management and Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23705-3_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23705-3_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23704-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23705-3

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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