Educating ‘Future Professionals’
for Sustainable Development: Piloting
a Radical Nutshell Strategy
for Organizational Change in Higher
Education
Susanne Maria Weber
Abstract The article addresses the question, how sustainability education can be
developed, explored and implemented by academic programs. A pilot program for
transformational change is presented, which grounds Scharmers’ (2018) claim for
a ‘vertical literacy’ with transition theoretical, habitustheoretical, social innovation
and future strategies oriented foundations. Social, cultural, ecological and economical sustainability are explored for institutionalizing sustainability into Higher Education. Against bureaucratization and individualized teaching, experimentation and
exploration are to be implemented. The article suggests a radical ‘nutshell strategy’
of bottom up organizational change in Higher Education.
Keywords Students as resourceholders · Students as future professionals · SDGs,
train the trainer program · Ecological university
1 Academia on Its Way to Sustainability…
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) aim at ending
poverty and hunger. They wish to contribute to health and wellbeing as well as
to valuable education and equality of the sexes.
Within academic debates, there are a lot of suggestions and analysis, how to
contribute to reach out for the SDG goals. Already in 2000, Scharmer and Käufer
suggested to bring about a new nexus between research, teaching and practice.
Bastenhorst (2005) discusses the sustainable university from a resource perspective. He develops a multilevel sustainability perspective as goal of the sustainable
university (2005, p. 84ff). While Schneidewind (2009) and as well Schneidewind
Youtube-Channel (with latest videos): http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCctbXCXpFUr
WhjSeOkb71bA.
S. M. Weber (B)
Department 21, Institute for Education, Philipps-Universität Marburg,
Bunsenstr. 3, 35032 Marburg, Germany
e-mail: Susanne.maria.weber@uni-marburg.de
URL: https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/fb21/erzwinst/arbeitsbereiche/ion
© 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_37
605
for Sustainable Development: Piloting
a Radical Nutshell Strategy
for Organizational Change in Higher
Education
Susanne Maria Weber
Abstract The article addresses the question, how sustainability education can be
developed, explored and implemented by academic programs. A pilot program for
transformational change is presented, which grounds Scharmers’ (2018) claim for
a ‘vertical literacy’ with transition theoretical, habitustheoretical, social innovation
and future strategies oriented foundations. Social, cultural, ecological and economical sustainability are explored for institutionalizing sustainability into Higher Education. Against bureaucratization and individualized teaching, experimentation and
exploration are to be implemented. The article suggests a radical ‘nutshell strategy’
of bottom up organizational change in Higher Education.
Keywords Students as resourceholders · Students as future professionals · SDGs,
train the trainer program · Ecological university
1 Academia on Its Way to Sustainability…
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) aim at ending
poverty and hunger. They wish to contribute to health and wellbeing as well as
to valuable education and equality of the sexes.
Within academic debates, there are a lot of suggestions and analysis, how to
contribute to reach out for the SDG goals. Already in 2000, Scharmer and Käufer
suggested to bring about a new nexus between research, teaching and practice.
Bastenhorst (2005) discusses the sustainable university from a resource perspective. He develops a multilevel sustainability perspective as goal of the sustainable
university (2005, p. 84ff). While Schneidewind (2009) and as well Schneidewind
Youtube-Channel (with latest videos): http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCctbXCXpFUr
WhjSeOkb71bA.
S. M. Weber (B)
Department 21, Institute for Education, Philipps-Universität Marburg,
Bunsenstr. 3, 35032 Marburg, Germany
e-mail: Susanne.maria.weber@uni-marburg.de
URL: https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/fb21/erzwinst/arbeitsbereiche/ion
© 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_37
605