Education for sustainable development

“Education for sustainable development” is based on the premise that long-term and profound ecological, social and economic transformation processes are required to address the crises that are to a large extent due to climate change. Viadrina believes that one of the aims of university teaching should be to educate students to take on social responsibility and think and act sustainably.  

As part of its international and interdisciplinary profile, Viadrina endorses the principle of university education for sustainable development. Not only does this mean that teaching needs to cover the relevant knowledge required for orientation. Reflecting on the latest developments in academic discourse is also a matter of course for a university such as Viadrina. In addition to ecological aspects, Viadrina focuses on the social, economic and cultural dimensions of the sustainable development goals and enables students to develop global perspectives in the discourse on sustainability.

Viadrina aims to educate students to reflect on knowledge and social responsibility and teach them the skills needed to combine forward-looking thinking with action. The university promotes key skills that are of relevance to sustainability such as changes in perspective, anticipation skills and strategic skills. Viadrina graduates should be able to participate in the development and implementation of strategies for action, taking numerous perspectives into account.

Sustainablity-related and digital skills are incorporated into our degree programmes with a view to the development of ethical and digital literacy. We believe that, in a digital society that creates the conditions needed for sustainable development, supporting individualized learning processes and promoting self-learning skills and a collaborative approach to studying will not only become more important but also enable an increasingly diverse (and international) student body to work together productively.