Education for Sustainable Development—Activities
The Studies and Teaching Team at the Center for a Sustainable University (KNU) is a group of University members from all faculties (except medicine) and other relevant University groups. Since 2011, we have met 3 times every semester to address sustainability issues in teaching and studies. For example, in past semesters we developed Guidelines for Sustainability in Teaching at Universität Hamburg (PDF) and a position paper on sustainability in teaching and studies (PDF).
We also gather good examples of sustainability in teaching. These include a workshop discussion in 2017 and an in-house conference in 2018. Furthermore, we look for ways to promote interdisciplinary teaching with faculty from various academic areas and consider how sustainability education can become an integral part of a Studium Generale and teacher training degree programs.
Teaching and Studies Team
The Teaching and Studies Team at the Center for a Sustainable University (KNU) is a group of University members from all faculties (except medicine) and other relevant University groups. Since 2011, we have met 3 times every semester to address sustainability issues in teaching and studies. For example, in past semesters we developed Guidelines for Sustainability in Teaching at Universität Hamburg (PDF) and a position paper on sustainability in teaching and studies (PDF).
We also gather good examples of sustainability in teaching. These include a workshop discussion in 2017 (PDF) and an in-house conference in 2018 (PDF). Furthermore, we look for ways to promote interdisciplinary teaching with faculty from various academic areas and consider how sustainability education can become an integral part of a Studium Generale and teacher training degree programs.
ESD workshop discussion, brochure, and conference
To strengthen ESD and firmly establish it in university teaching, we have intensified our activities since 2017. These are designed to foster discussion. Initially, the Teaching and Studies Team gathered examples of good practice for sustainability in teaching. We surveyed the heads of office for academic affairs in the respective faculties, asking them which courses in the last 5 years focused, in part or in whole, on sustainability issues and which of these might serve as interesting examples for addressing sustainability in teaching. We were especially interested in curricula, course objectives, course planning, and university teaching formats as well as organizational conditions.
For the Action Days for Sustainability, the Team initiated a workshop discussion (PDF) with representatives from all member groups of the University. They developed criteria for identifying the “good” in our good practice examples.
Using the results from this, the Teaching and Studies Team created a PDF brochure with examples of successful sustainable development teaching to inspire others with ideas for their own courses. Above and beyond this, our range of activities provides a glimpse of current discourse on university teaching at Universität Hamburg.
In June 2018, there was an in-house conference (PDF) to determine what ESD should include and what we need to reconceive or do to better integrate ESD into teaching. It became patently clear that we can and want to achieve more and that we should show greater appreciation for our accomplishments thus far.
Action Days for Sustainability
To mark the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012, the German Council for Sustainable Development initiated the German Action Days for Sustainability. The event is designed to draw public attention to sustainability development goals. Universität Hamburg has participated every year since 2015 by offering a varied, week-long program during the Action Days for Sustainability intended to highlight sustainability issues. In 2019, the KNU plans to participate again from 17–21 June. We would be delighted if you would like to offer something!
Lecture series
Under the motto “Theory, Analysis, Critique,” the lecture series Die Gesellschaft der Nachhaltigkeit held in Winter Semester 2016/2017 and headed by Prof. Dr. Sighard Neckel (sociology) addressed sustainability as a societal issue. Instead of seeing sustainability as solving all ecological and societal problems, lecturers took a self-reflective approach that also addressed the problems and paradoxes of sustainability. For example, they looked at the relationship between sustainability and capitalism, or whether sustainable development necessarily leads to social justice.
Since 2014, there have been regular lecture series in cooperation with the Society for International Development Hamburg (SID) and Prof. Dr. Cord Jakobeit (political science). In Summer Semester 2018, the lecture series Handeln(n) gegen den Hunger addressed the relationship between global trade relations and poverty in the global south.
In particular, lecturers took a critical look at anti-poverty development policies and possibilities for concrete action. In Summer Semester 2017, the series Wie wirkt Entwicklungspolitik? focused on the effects of development policies by looking at and evaluating the complex relationship of various effects. In the year prior to that, the series addressed the UN’s sustainability goals by asking: “What is the impact of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development?” The series also addressed the challenges posed by efforts to realize these goals.
You can view all lecture series on Lecture2go.
Student initiatives
At Universität Hamburg, there are several groups and student initiatives dedicated to different aspects of sustainable development. Topics range from education and teaching, projects with refugees, and critiques of racism and post-colonialism to cooperative gardening on the University campus.
Name | Academic Staff Council (WIPR) website |
AG BNE | https://bne-uhh.de/ |
AG Queer Studies | https://agqueerstudies.de/ |
AK Plurale Ökonomik | http://www.plurale-oekonomik-hamburg.de |
Amnesty International Uni Hamburg | http://www.amnesty-uni-hamburg.de/ |
Beyond Borders e.V. | https://beyond-borders-ev.de/de/ |
DGB Hochschulgruppe | https://de-de.facebook.com/DGBCampusOfficeHamburg/ |
Enactus | http://unihamburg.enactus.de |
Freiräume an der Uni (PDF in German on vacant rooms and venues at the University) | http://www.asta-uhh.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Ver%C3%B6ffentlichungen/Reader/130125_Reader_Freiraum_an_der_Uni_01.pdf |
GeoKino*Kollektiv | http://geokino.blogsport.de |
Hamburgs Aktive Jurastudent_innen | http://haj.blogsport.de/ |
ICAN | https://www.facebook.com/ICAN.Hamburg/ |
IGLUHH | http://igluhh.education/http://igluhh.education/ |
JEF Hamburg | https://www.jef-hamburg.de/ueber-uns/ |
MIBAS debates on CSR | https://www.wiso.uni-hamburg.de/fachbereich-sozoek/professuren/geiger/mibas/mibas-debates-on-csr.html |
oikos | http://hamburg.oikos-international.org |
Piasta | https://www.uni-hamburg.de/piasta.html |
Refugee Law Clinic Hamburg | https://rlc-hh.de |
Refugee Welcome Cafe | https://refugeeswelcomecampus.wordpress.com/supporter-infos/refugees-welcome-cafe/ |
Rock your Life | https://rockyourlife.de/standort/hamburg |
Schule macht Rassismus | https://www.zfw.uni-hamburg.de/oeffentliche-vortraege/programm/extra-programm/schule-macht-rassismus.html |
Sneep | http://www.sneep.info/lokalgruppen/hamburg |
Studentische Konfliktberatung und Mediation | https://www.theologie.uni-hamburg.de/service/konfliktberatung.html |
Studieren ohne grenzen | https://www.studieren-ohne-grenzen.org/lokalgruppen/hamburg/ |
UAEM | https://medizin-hamburg.de/projekte/uaem-universities-allied-for-essential-medicines/ |
Weitblick e.V. Hamburg | https://weitblicker.org/Stadt/Hamburg |
WurzelWerk | https://gruenanteil.net/projects/de/wurzelwerk |
Zugvögel | https://zugvoegel.org/hamburg/ |
Virtuelle Akademie Nachhaltigkeit
The Virtuelle Akademie Nachhaltigkeit offers courses on sustainable development in Germany. Video-based educational courses on sustainability help universities realize their own ESD ideas and expand their curricula. The platform offers students further course-related teaching materials and in some cases an opportunity to take a final exam for credit at universities with programs requiring classroom attendance.
The Studies and Teaching Team is currently looking at how to integrate the platform into Universität Hamburg’s curricula.
Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ is the project’s initiator and patron. He oversees its strategic direction and sets the course program. In cooperation with experts, he organizes the evaluation of courses and the platform to ensure continuing quality development.
The Virtuelle Akademie Nachhaltigkeit was developed by the Zentrum für Multimedia in der Lehre (ZMML) at Universität Bremen. Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ (business administration with a focus on sustainable management, Universität Bremen) is the initiator and patron. He oversees its strategic direction and sets the course program. In cooperation with experts, he organizes the evaluation of courses and the platform to ensure continuing quality development.
Networks with other universities
What can universities contribute to sustainable development in the areas of teaching, research, sustainability reporting, governance, operations, and transfer? How can we develop a common understanding of sustainability and transformation in a university alliance? Sustainability at Higher Education Institutions: Develop—Network—Report, also known by its German acronym HOCHN, focuses on these and similar questions. HOCHN receives funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). It’s project code is 13NKE007. [Link]
Beyond the 11 universities involved in the project, universities in HOCHN’s sustainability network are welcome to learn from one another and collaborate on promoting sustainable development at their institutions.