Background

At our University, we believe that providing education for sustainable development (ESD) is vital for empowering students to understand and engage with global environmental, social, and economic challenges.

The University of Sussex has been recognised for our excellent teaching on International Development. For five years running, we, in partnership with the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), have been ranked first in the world for development studies, in the QS World Rankings by Subject.

In April 2021, our University was ranked 41st in the world, out of around 1,200 higher-education institutions, in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking, which related to sustainability. This puts us in the top 5% of universities in the world and in the top 10 UK universities – that applied to be independently ranked by the THE – for sustainability. The metrics of this ranking are based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with our score partly arising from our extensive inclusion of the SDGs in our curriculum.

We also have strong sustainability research groups, such as Sussex Sustainability Research Programme and the Science Policy Research Unit. These groups’ output is embedded into our curriculum, meaning that our students learn from the cutting edge of sustainability research.

The March 2021 Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Education for Sustainable Development Guidance emphasised that ESD must move beyond focusing on environmental sustainability, to explore interlinkages between economic, social, and environmental factors. Our schools and research expertise at the University of Sussex mean that we have been teaching on these factors for years, placing us well to deliver on ESD.

The QAA identified the SDGs as a useful framing tool for identifying if and how these factors are being taught through ESD. The SDGs are a call for action towards creating a better world. By teaching about topics related to the SDGs, we support our students to develop the knowledge, skill, values, and vision required to work towards these goals.

Further, as challenges and opportunities around the SDGs become prevalent in every sector, inclusion of sustainability in our students’ education helps to futureproof our courses and ensure our students can apply their education to their careers.