Training students in inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability education: nurturing cross-faculty staff commitment and continuous community collaboration
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 3 November 2022
Issue publication date: 15 March 2023
Abstract
Purpose
To properly address complex sustainability issues, higher education institutes (HEIs), such as universities, need to implement innovative educational programmes that adhere to transdisciplinary principles. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how to do so across and beyond a university.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a module comprising two courses, the first of which centres on the identification of sustainability issues in student-led multi-actor dialogue sessions and the second on addressing those sustainability issues through interdisciplinary collaboration among master’s students who are at the same time also working on their own thesis. The authors conducted continuous evaluations during the first two pilot years, including community (partners), faculty and student perspectives.
Findings
The authors found that the module was successful in training students for inter- and transdisciplinarity. Moreover, high levels of commitment were observed from a diverse range of students and faculty across one HEI as well as positive responses from the community (partners) involved in the module. Further improvements of the module rely on active buy-in from programme directors and ensuring continuous collaboration throughout the co-creation process by streamlining the translation of the issues into manageable research projects with specific research questions.
Practical implications
This study provides inspiration and lessons on how to implement university-wide inter- and transdisciplinary module into higher education.
Originality/value
The module is innovative in combining university-wide and interdisciplinary learning with and transdisciplinary learning through long-term, co-creational collaboration within and beyond the university.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Geertje Tijsma and Annnemarie Horn share equal contributions.
The authors would like to express their gratitude to all their colleagues from the Athena Institute who have contributed to designing and teaching the iCSL courses and learning materials. Moreover, the authors would like to thank Dr Aukelien Scheffelaar for her advice about and contribution to the data collection for this study. The authors would also like to thank the community (partners) who contributed to the iCSL activities and the students who participated in the courses and the study. Finally, the authors would like to thank Deborah Eade for her English editing of the document.
Of the authors, AH, MZ and EU were involved in the design and redesign of the courses. AH and MZ were involved in iCSL1 as teachers, and AH and EU were involved in iCSL2 as teachers. AH collected the data, and GT led data analyses and GT and AH jointly wrote the manuscript. EU supervised the analysis and writing process through periodic meetings and several rounds of feedback to the manuscript. EU and MZ provided feedback and suggestions at several moments throughout the writing process. GT and AH share equal contribution. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO) [project number 405.18865.703].
Citation
Tijsma, G., Horn, A., Urias, E. and Zweekhorst, M.B.M. (2023), "Training students in inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability education: nurturing cross-faculty staff commitment and continuous community collaboration", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 765-787. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-02-2022-0049
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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