The EDINSOST project. Sustainability Education in the Spanish Higher Education System

EDINSOST, Project R+D “Society Challenges” funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, under the research challenge in the field of social change and innovation, aims to contribute to the improvement of social challenges across the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, the State Plan of Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation and the Europe 2020 Strategy. The research is applied, highly multidisciplinary and contextualized in ten Spanish universities that work together in the Sustainability Sectorial Commission of CRUE in the working group “Curriculum sustainability" with the goal of creating synergies and action frameworks agreed at national level.

This is an area of action research with lack of common criteria to integrate sustainability competences, learning processes and assessment that bounds their achievement. To overcome this challenge, frameworks and processes that facilitate the integration of sustainability into the university curriculum holistically through mapping and validation of pedagogical practices, the diagnosis of the state in Spanish universities and building materials for teaching and learning sustainability competences has been developed.

Project objectives and results are focused on: 1) Define the map of sustainability competences of university degrees covered by the project and establish the framework to facilitate their integration in a holistic manner; 2) validate teaching strategies for the acquisition of sustainability competences, from a constructivist and community oriented pedagogical approach; 3) Diagnose the state of faculty sustainability training needs and develop and pilot training proposals; and 4) To diagnose the state of learning of sustainability competences in the university students and prepare and pilot training proposals.

The research methodology has an interpretive focus, using quantitative and qualitative techniques, and covering a population with three impact levels. On the one hand, degree courses that integrate the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social and economic). Furthermore, and taking into account their long-term multiplier effect, special emphasis is made on five Bachelor and Master degrees in Education, as its graduates are the future teachers of the next generation of citizens. Finally, seven technological bachelor degrees are researched for their great impact on societal challenges.