The Sustainable Development Goals: An Experience on Higher Education

Bárbara Crespo, Carla Míguez-Álvarez, María Elena Arce, Miguel Cuevas and José Luis Míguez
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Bárbara Crespo: School of Industrial Engineering, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Carla Míguez-Álvarez: Philology and Translation, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
María Elena Arce: Defense University Center at Spanish Naval Academy, Plaza de España 2, 36920 Marín-Pontevedra, Spain
Miguel Cuevas: Philology and Translation, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
José Luis Míguez: School of Industrial Engineering, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Sustainable development is acquiring high attendance in higher education. In fact, one of the targets for the Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations in September 2015 aims to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, thorough education on sustainable development. The current study focuses on the evaluation of individual works based on the sustainable development suggested to students in a subject of the Master’s of Thermal Engineering at the University of Vigo. In addition, a sustainable holistic rubric is presented, which was used to analyze the ability of the students to incorporate sustainability principles in their work. The rubric was based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the associated targets of the United Nations, more specifically on the Goals 7, 8, 12, and 13. A total of 10 works were evaluated. As a general conclusion, it was found that the students generally do not consider or consider to a lower extent the economic criteria opposite to the environmental, technical, and social dimensions. The environmental sub-criterion were applied to a greater extent in the development of the works. However, the technical and social dimensions were included to a greater or lesser extent depending on the type of work developed.

Keywords: sustainable development; high education; Sustainable Development Goals; environmental criteria; technical criteria; economic criteria; social criteria; rubric (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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