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Gathering student perspectives to direct university decisions on climate action and sustainability education
By IOE Blog Editor, on 2 January 2024
Credit: Hurca!, generated with AI / Adobe.
2 January 2024
By Batool Wajiha Zaidi, Arts and Sciences BASc.
Climate change is one of the most significant global challenges that humanity has ever had to face. Such a complex challenge requires a collective effort across all sectors of society to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change and protect the future of our planet. In particular, universities are uniquely situated to respond to the climate crisis through education and academic research.
Students are profoundly affected by university policies and have raised concerns as to the current education system’s ability to prepare them for the uncertainty of the future. Yet, their voice and impact is almost non-existent in climate change and sustainability education policy. Students have an insider perspective and are motivated to challenge the existing practices of an institution, as such; with proper engagement, they can make meaningful recommendations for sustainable futures in higher education.
In order to address the lack of engagement of students in policymaking for sustainability in higher education, we conducted a research project co-led by two undergraduate students to better understand students’ perceptions of climate change and sustainability education in universities and produce a collaborative policy brief.
The participants made recommendations on climate change and sustainability education for decision-makers in higher education targeting three key areas of university: curriculum, campus and community.
A central theme across all the youth recommendations is that the sustainability agenda, and the probable futures that society face, must set an overarching context for all higher education priorities and decision-making across the UK.
This project was co-led by UCL students Batool Wajiha Zaidi and Kavan Shah working with the IOE’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education as part of the UCL Laidlaw scholarship programme, supervised by Professor Lizzie Rushton.
