Session 40: Students as agents of change: integrating the UN SDGs in Business School curriculum

Abstract

This project reviews, maps and monitors the representation of the UN SDGs in the Business School curriculum. In doing so, it collaborates with students as agents of change to improve teaching and learning experiences. The project challenges the traditional approach of a one-way educational system where tutors have knowledge that can be seamlessly transmitted to students. Instead, students are partners who hold an active role and have a voice in the curriculum design.

The project adopts an action research method to explore the integration of the UN SDGs embedded in the curriculum in a meaningful and inclusive way (Astin and Astin, 2000). Data has been collected with the use of a digital tool that has been designed as a reflexive guide for further integration of SDGs into your curriculum, e.g. assessments, learning outcomes and action-oriented pedagogies.

The project outputs will be used to create a map that exhibits best practices in teaching sustainability and the UN SDGs in business education. Findings will be used as foundations for further reviews in different disciplines and Faculties across the university and, within the sector. Therefore, mapping the UN SDGs in the Business School curriculum is a ‘living lab’ (Rosenberg Daneri et al., 2015) that aligns with the civic agenda of the university and provides benefits for the faculty, the student community, and the wider institution and local communities.

Astin, A.W. & Astin, H.S. (2000) Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education in Social Change. Michigan: The Kellogg Foundation.
Rosenberg Daneri, D., Trencher, G. and Petersen, J. (2015), “Students as change agents in a town-wide sustainability transformation: the Oberlin project at Oberlin college”, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Vol. 16, pp. 14-21.

Students as agents of change: integrating the UN SDGs in Business School curriculum presentation. Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.