Postgraduate education for sustainability at Lincoln University, New Zealand

Abstract

Sustainability is an inexact and contested term: – Jacobs (1999) places it in the same category as ‘social justice’ and ‘liberty’ i.e. concepts that are elusive but nonetheless vital to political functioning. Despite the drawbacks of the term, sustainability is part of our everyday language. Research in this area, for instance, is increasing (Schoolman et al., 2012) and so are employment opportunities (Atkisson 2011; Sainty, 2007). This provides tertiary institutions with some interesting questions. How can they include sustainability in the curriculum given that there are multiple ways of assessing its meaning and importance, and given that the topic is highly interdisciplinary and that it involves a different world view (i.e. a network, systems approach) from currently dominant views (e.g. an individualistic approach)? This report looks at the options for teaching sustainability at the postgraduate level at Lincoln University, New Zealand. It may be helpful to read this report in conjunction with LEaP Report 25 (Spicer et al. 2011) which considered the options for including Education for Sustainability in the undergraduate curriculum of the same University. However all material relevant to an Education for Sustainability at the postgraduate level that is common to both reports has been reproduced here.