Sustainability as a
Teaching Theme at QMU
Mike Pretious (Mpretious@qmu.ac.uk)
Laurie Blair (Lblair@qmu.ac.uk)
Division of Business, Enterprise and Management
School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management
Context
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Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a core
HEA Enhancement Theme (ET)
Sustainability is embedded in QMU’s Quality
Enhancement Learning Teaching Approaches (QELTA)
strategy
ESD is an important focus for the Scottish
Government as the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE)
rolls out in primary and secondary education sectors
Primary research on ESD in the QMU curriculum was
funded by Projects for the Enhancement of Teaching
and Learning (PETL) initiative
The Pillars of Sustainability
Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nested_sustainability-v2.svg Accessed 17/9/12
Methodology
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Textual analysis
Module and programme documentation
examined for relevant word usage, e.g.
sustainability, environment, CSR
Targeted interviews
Development of case studies of best
practice
Results Summary
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Over 80 modules contained some reference to
wording relevant to ‘sustainability’
Concentration of modules within School of Arts,
Social Sciences and Management (ASSaM)
Sustainability most strongly embedded within
the ASSaM Divisions of Business, Enterprise and
Management (BEaM) and Media,
Communication and Performing Arts (MCPA)
Important cluster within the School of Health
Sciences Institute for International Health and
Development (IIHD)
Highlights
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MSc International Management and Leadership
‘Community Impact and Practice’ module
MSc Gastronomy ‘The System: from Field to
Market’ module
BA International Hospitality and Tourism
Management ‘Sustainable Management of
Hospitality Enterprises’ and ‘Tourism and
Developing Countries’ modules
BA Events Management ‘Global Events Leadership
and Social Justice’ module
MSc Social Justice Development and Health
programme
Concluding Observations
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Encouraging recognition of the need to
embed the key tenets of sustainability into
core modules
Breadth of ‘sustainability’, and links between
the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework,
understood and taught
Tendency for specialised sustainability
modules to be at Level 9 or above