The Story

Abertay University has implemented changes across its academic programmes to embed sustainable development goals (SDGs) as a core part of the student experience.

In 2023, academic programme teams were reviewed to identify module content addressing sustainability issues, aiming to better map how students engage with these topics. This process highlighted examples of good practice, which were shared across the institution to inspire new initiatives or adapt existing ones. Examples include:

• Sport for Development includes a weekly topic covering sustainable development through sport, focusing on issues surrounding sustainability and how sport for development can promote climate action.
• Students across games, computing, and cybersecurity programmes take part in talks on green computing during their modules and are taught to avoid redundancy in code to minimise computing power usage and improve efficiency.
• Civil and Environmental Engineering students are heavily engaged in sustainable development across their programmes. Their impact assessment task requires resolving problems that address various environmental, social, and economic criteria.
• Psychology students attend dedicated lectures on the environment and campaigning, with a focus on mental health.
• Food Science students learn about food choices from a global perspective, including how to measure and assess global influences on world consumption trends, sustainability issues from food production methods, nutrition transitions, and the role of culture and society in shaping food choices.
• Business Management students are taught to understand current societal and political factors driving organisations to reduce environmental impact and to create strategies to reduce carbon footprints.
• Biomedical Science students learn about the socio-ecological implications of healthcare decisions and how to critically engage with research to foster sustainable practices in medicine.

Looking ahead, the University is adopting a model where all module design and delivery will integrate the application of the UN SDGs. In collaboration with Abertay’s AbLE Academy, programme and module leaders will continue developing case studies of best practice to share institution-wide, further embedding sustainability into the curriculum.

Dean of Teaching and Learning, Professor Luke Millard, said:
 “Abertay University is committed to embedding sustainable development across all academic programmes, ensuring students are equipped with a sustainability-focused mindset in their studies and future careers. Through collaboration and sharing of best practices, we are making sustainability a foundational element of the student experience across every discipline."