Integrating Sustainability
within University Sustainability
Programme—Students’ Perception
on Sustainable Cities and Communities
Master’s Programme of the School
of Humanities, USM
Hafizah Rosli, Narimah Samat and Radieah Mohd. Nor
Abstract The sustainability pillars seemed to have been embedded into most of
higher educational institutions, throughout the world. Universiti Sains Malaysia as
an APEX university has integrated Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
to ensure its community lives in accordance with the sustainability objectives. To
achieve this, Sustainable Cities and Communities Master Programme is an impressive
effort to educate future leaders about the vitality of sustainability in developing
a city and its community. In this paper, seven graduate students from this master
programme were interviewed regarding their perceptions about the ESD that they
have learned from the programme. One of the students admitted that this programme
is a good platform to understand about urban social issues and problems in relation
with the sustainable development, poverty, community’s response on infrastructure
development and so on. In his opinion, the understanding about sustainability from
the programme is beneficial.
Keywords Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) · Perceptions about
ESD · Sustainable development and sustainable cities and communities
1 Introduction
Sustainable development is a strategic idea which ensures all social needs, are in
equilibrium with economic growth and environmental integrity. Integrating sustainable development into the educational system will help nurture future generations
and provide them with the need to embrace ecological protection, conservation of
resources and human development (Abdul Razak et al. 2008). However, to ensure
H. Rosli (B) · N. Samat
School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor, Malaysia
e-mail: hafizahcgss@gmail.com
R. Mohd. Nor
Centre for Global Sustainability Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor, Malaysia
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15604-6_31
497
within University Sustainability
Programme—Students’ Perception
on Sustainable Cities and Communities
Master’s Programme of the School
of Humanities, USM
Hafizah Rosli, Narimah Samat and Radieah Mohd. Nor
Abstract The sustainability pillars seemed to have been embedded into most of
higher educational institutions, throughout the world. Universiti Sains Malaysia as
an APEX university has integrated Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
to ensure its community lives in accordance with the sustainability objectives. To
achieve this, Sustainable Cities and Communities Master Programme is an impressive
effort to educate future leaders about the vitality of sustainability in developing
a city and its community. In this paper, seven graduate students from this master
programme were interviewed regarding their perceptions about the ESD that they
have learned from the programme. One of the students admitted that this programme
is a good platform to understand about urban social issues and problems in relation
with the sustainable development, poverty, community’s response on infrastructure
development and so on. In his opinion, the understanding about sustainability from
the programme is beneficial.
Keywords Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) · Perceptions about
ESD · Sustainable development and sustainable cities and communities
1 Introduction
Sustainable development is a strategic idea which ensures all social needs, are in
equilibrium with economic growth and environmental integrity. Integrating sustainable development into the educational system will help nurture future generations
and provide them with the need to embrace ecological protection, conservation of
resources and human development (Abdul Razak et al. 2008). However, to ensure
H. Rosli (B) · N. Samat
School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor, Malaysia
e-mail: hafizahcgss@gmail.com
R. Mohd. Nor
Centre for Global Sustainability Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor, Malaysia
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15604-6_31
497