Purpose

This paper aims to identify how the faculties of a Colombian University have understood the concept of sustainability and the way they have embedded it into their training.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative research was done using documentary and content analysis which allowed researchers to recognize features correlated to sustainability which are needed to promote and act for social equity, ecological care and economic development.

Findings

It was found that most faculties at the university do not conceptualize it; ergo, courses are designed neither for promoting sustainability nor sustainable education. Besides this, almost no level of integration was identified among faculties on this topic.

Research limitations/implications

Many people agree education for sustainability is a key action to overcome the complex challenges the planet is facing; nevertheless, the prejudice that training to solve sustainability problems is an exclusive task of certain disciplines is common. This misunderstanding reduces the possibilities of pursuing a sustainable future, considering that these issues affect all humankind and that they can only be solved through interdisciplinary and collaborative work.

Practical implications

The paper also outlines some actions that Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) can take to consider sustainability issues, and they are as follows: identification of competencies to include in the curricula; recognition of the potential of integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) into the curricula by strengthening the competencies and capacities; strengthening the competencies and capacities of the academic staff through ESD training processes; articulation of research with the curricula in such a way that the results of research processes permeate the curricula.

Social implications

This study has some limitations. For instance, regarding the survey, the size of the sample may seem too small, a bigger sample will allow better information for the results. Regarding the case studies, a greater diversity of programs could have provided a wider range of results. Despite these limitations, for UPB, the study shows a snapshot of the literature review and the articulation of sustainable development and climate change education (CCE) in all programs the university has. The implications of this paper and research are the following. First, it reiterates the importance of having within the same institution a common language to talk about sustainability. Second, it recognizes the competencies and skills that should considered when implementing ESD and CCE in curricula.

Originality/value

This idea corresponds to a lack of debate about what the term signifies and means. It is believed that, as sustainability has been highly researched in the past two decades, it is a cross-cutting element in any faculty proposal; however, due to the complexity of the term, it is understood differently by each member of the same academic community, affecting their ability to design a systemic and systematic curriculum that enables to educate for sustainable goals.

中文翻译：

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高等教育可持续发展的重要性：对哥伦比亚大学课程提案的看法

目的

本文旨在确定哥伦比亚大学的教师如何理解可持续发展的概念以及他们如何将其融入到培训中。

设计/方法论/途径

定性研究是利用文献和内容分析进行的，使研究人员能够认识到与可持续性相关的特征，这些特征是促进社会公平、生态关怀和经济发展所必需的。

发现

结果发现，大学里的大多数教师并没有将其概念化；因此，课程的设计既不是为了促进可持续性，也不是为了可持续教育。除此之外，在该主题上几乎没有确定院系之间的整合程度。

研究局限性/影响

许多人认为可持续发展教育是克服地球面临的复杂挑战的关键行动；然而，普遍存在一种偏见，即解决可持续性问题的培训是某些学科的专有任务。考虑到这些问题影响全人类，并且只能通过跨学科和协作工作来解决，这种误解降低了追求可持续未来的可能性。

实际影响

该文件还概述了玻利瓦尔教皇大学 (UPB) 可以采取的一些行动来考虑可持续发展问题，这些行动如下： 确定课程中包含的能力；认识到通过加强能力和能力将可持续发展教育纳入课程的潜力；通过可持续发展教育培训过程加强学术人员的能力；研究与课程的衔接，使研究过程的结果渗透到课程中。

社会影响

这项研究有一些局限性。例如，就调查而言，样本量可能看起来太小，更大的样本可以为结果提供更好的信息。关于案例研究，更多样化的项目可以提供更广泛的结果。尽管存在这些局限性，但对于 UPB 来说，该研究展示了文献综述的概况以及该大学所有项目中可持续发展和气候变化教育 (CCE) 的阐述。本文和研究的意义如下。首先，它重申了在同一机构内拥有共同语言来讨论可持续性的重要性。其次，它认识到在课程中实施 ESD 和 CCE 时应考虑的能力和技能。

原创性/价值

这个想法对应于缺乏对该术语的含义和含义的争论。人们相信，由于可持续发展在过去二十年中得到了深入研究，因此它是任何教师提案中的一个跨领域要素；然而，由于该术语的复杂性，同一学术界的每个成员都有不同的理解，影响了他们设计系统性和系统性课程的能力，以实现可持续目标的教育。