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W. Kanchanamukda and L. Falvey
idealism that can otherwise pervade notions of sustainability. Furthermore, understanding of sustainability must be encompassing in order to acknowledge the myriad interrelationships between all things, including thought. One of the significant
advances in harmonizing understanding around sustainable development is represented by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs). While
these have been criticized on various bases, they are perhaps the broadest general
consensus on global needs. The presentation of the SDGs as being interrelated and
applicable to all nations, not just so-called developing nations, represents a major
advance of relevance to the subject of this paper.
The paper describes the process of establishment of the university-wide Ph.D. in
Sustainable Development in a manner that may be of value to other institutions with
autonomous governance.
2 Integrating Sustainability into University Education
In a wealthy nation, university education may overtly aim to influence individuals and
society so that they are cognizant of the interactions of their lifestyles and employment with all beings and the so-called inanimate components of our environment
(Hegarty et al. 2011). Universities accept this responsibility to varying extents, some
focusing on the physical sustainability of their campuses, others on the sustainability
of their business models. However, a more important approach is the integration of
sustainability into the research and teaching programs of an institution (Leal Filho
2010). While descriptions of ‘green curricula’ is a start of the process (Haigh 2010),
a liberal arts approach that ensures all undergraduates gain a foundation in the integration of the humanities and the sciences offers potential that may not be as present
in vocationally oriented degree programs. This was, for example, a basis of the ‘Melbourne Model’ introduced in the University of Melbourne in Australia, an approach
that may be more difficult to implement in universities without large discretionary
funds (Davies and Devlin 2007).
In addition to the constraints of state-controlled curricula or funding by student
load to adopting an integrated foundation degree course across all disciplines, objectives that focus on western-lifestyles that are said to be ecologically sustainable
(Sterling 2001) can often ignore the global context. That global context includes the
overwhelming issues of poor and food-insecure nations where sustainability tradeoffs more than offset noble actions in wealthy nations. It also excludes the constraints
on many universities in emerging and aid-graduating nations.
Systems-thinking has long been a means of introducing students to the complexity of the biological environment. In the applied biological sciences such as
medical and agricultural sciences it has introduced social, environmental and biochemical interactions into the thinking of capable students. Predating widespread
use of ‘sustainability’, such a systems-thinking approach has nevertheless equipped
many graduates with an integrated approach to understanding the context of their
professional and private actions. This observation may suggest that self-contained
W. Kanchanamukda and L. Falvey
idealism that can otherwise pervade notions of sustainability. Furthermore, understanding of sustainability must be encompassing in order to acknowledge the myriad interrelationships between all things, including thought. One of the significant
advances in harmonizing understanding around sustainable development is represented by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs). While
these have been criticized on various bases, they are perhaps the broadest general
consensus on global needs. The presentation of the SDGs as being interrelated and
applicable to all nations, not just so-called developing nations, represents a major
advance of relevance to the subject of this paper.
The paper describes the process of establishment of the university-wide Ph.D. in
Sustainable Development in a manner that may be of value to other institutions with
autonomous governance.
2 Integrating Sustainability into University Education
In a wealthy nation, university education may overtly aim to influence individuals and
society so that they are cognizant of the interactions of their lifestyles and employment with all beings and the so-called inanimate components of our environment
(Hegarty et al. 2011). Universities accept this responsibility to varying extents, some
focusing on the physical sustainability of their campuses, others on the sustainability
of their business models. However, a more important approach is the integration of
sustainability into the research and teaching programs of an institution (Leal Filho
2010). While descriptions of ‘green curricula’ is a start of the process (Haigh 2010),
a liberal arts approach that ensures all undergraduates gain a foundation in the integration of the humanities and the sciences offers potential that may not be as present
in vocationally oriented degree programs. This was, for example, a basis of the ‘Melbourne Model’ introduced in the University of Melbourne in Australia, an approach
that may be more difficult to implement in universities without large discretionary
funds (Davies and Devlin 2007).
In addition to the constraints of state-controlled curricula or funding by student
load to adopting an integrated foundation degree course across all disciplines, objectives that focus on western-lifestyles that are said to be ecologically sustainable
(Sterling 2001) can often ignore the global context. That global context includes the
overwhelming issues of poor and food-insecure nations where sustainability tradeoffs more than offset noble actions in wealthy nations. It also excludes the constraints
on many universities in emerging and aid-graduating nations.
Systems-thinking has long been a means of introducing students to the complexity of the biological environment. In the applied biological sciences such as
medical and agricultural sciences it has introduced social, environmental and biochemical interactions into the thinking of capable students. Predating widespread
use of ‘sustainability’, such a systems-thinking approach has nevertheless equipped
many graduates with an integrated approach to understanding the context of their
professional and private actions. This observation may suggest that self-contained