Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in the Curricula of University Degrees: Initial Steps

Eva Gregori-Giralt, Carmen Benítez-Robles and José-Luis Menéndez-Varela ()
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Eva Gregori-Giralt: Department of Art History, Faculty of Geography and History, Universitat de Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
Carmen Benítez-Robles: Central Building, Online Design Program, Universitat Carlemany, AD600 Andorra, Andorra
José-Luis Menéndez-Varela: Department of Art History, Faculty of Geography and History, Universitat de Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-23

Abstract: We introduce a model to gauge the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the course syllabuses of university degree programmes. The model, comprising four category systems, is designed to analyse curricula that are still at an early stage of this process. The model is tested in Spanish public universities that offer master’s degrees in Advanced Studies in Art History. A conventional content analysis is performed on 762 competencies across 82 subjects in five institutions. The results show that (a) 0.92% of competency codes were aligned with the SDGs, while 13.25% were merely related to them; (b) 48.02% were affected by repetitions of supposedly different competencies; (c) there was a mean value of 9.29 competencies per subject, and modal values of 1 and 4 subjects in which each competency was addressed; and (d) only 26.12% of the competencies were associated with high-level cognitive processes. In conclusion, a thorough reconceptualisation and reorganisation of curriculum maps is needed to adapt them for the SDG framework. The first steps are to promote high-level cognitive processes associated with competencies, eliminate repetition, reduce the number of competencies, increase the number of subjects addressing each competency, and organise the competencies into different performance levels.

Keywords: sustainable development goals; competencies; programme evaluation; evaluation methods; higher education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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