Integrating sustainable development into education at KI
All students who graduate from KI should be confronted with issues related to sustainable development and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during their education.
The world is currently facing massive challenges to ensure that a good life on earth for future generations. In 2015, the world's countries adopted the UN's 17 SDGs, which aim, among other things, by 2030 to eliminate extreme poverty, reduce inequalities and injustice, promote peace and justice and solve the climate crisis.
Goal for education in KI's Climate Strategy
In 2030:
- KI is a leading medical university at the international forefront of education regarding climate change and health.
Education for sustainable development
"In the course of their operations, higher education institutions shall promote sustainable development to assure for present and future generations a sound and healthy environment, economic and social welfare, and justice."(
Higher Education Act, ch. 1 § 5)
The call can be interpreted as that every student during their education should be confronted with questions about what sustainable development means and be able to critically evaluate and discuss the obstacles and drivers of sustainable development in order to actively contribute to global sustainable development in their future professional role. Education for sustainable development is much more than just learning about the content of the SGDs and is thus rather about preparing today's students to deal with unresolved and complex social, political, economic and environmental challenges.
Education for sustainable development within educational programs and courses thus entails both specialization and a holistic view. However, at present, higher education is characterized by a focus on specialization: the division into human and social sciences on the one hand and natural sciences including medicine on the other, may be practical from strictly scientific starting points but does not correspond to adequate learning objectives in education for sustainable development. Thus, various forms of interdisciplinary education are also necessary for sustainable development.
Key skills that students need to learn
To promote sustainable development, we therefore cannot only teach about the environment and sustainability. We also need to teach and foster the skills required to actively engage in transformative work. UNESCO has defined a number of so-called key competencies that are needed:
- Systems thinking
- Critical thinking
- Self-reflection
- Problem-solving skills
- Norm-critical thinking
- Collaboration skills, and
- The ability to imagine different future scenarios and create visions.
The teaching methods encouraged in sustainability education are fully aligned with KI’s pedagogical policy, which is concretized through three perspectives: student-centered and active learning, scholarship of teaching and learning, and psychological safety.