Integrating Sustainability in Higher Education Curricula

A Transformative Approach towards Marketing Education and Brand Social Responsibility

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2023.543

Keywords:

sustainable development goals, education for sustainable development

Abstract

The theme of Education for Sustainable Development necessitates Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to integrate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their operations and program/course offerings. Drawing upon transformative learning theory and brand social responsibility theory, the research analyzes the teaching materials of 156 courses from seven programs within the School of Communication & Design at RMIT Vietnam, a prestigious Australian university. The findings reveal that the School currently aligns with 14 out of the 17 SDGs, encompassing a total of 60 indicators. On average, each program within the School addresses more than 10 goals and 24 indicators via collaborative partnership projects, case studies, and assessments. However, the study highlights that the incorporation of SDGs has yet to be deeply and comprehensively embedded within the curriculum. The research contributes to the theoretical framework of sustainability by offering recommendations on how to evaluate the integration of SDGs in teaching materials.

Author Biographies

Assoc. Prof. Donna Cleveland, RMIT University Vietnam

Associate Professor Donna Cleveland is the Deputy Dean of School and provides academic quality assurance, academic development and promoting the scholarship of learning and teaching. Her work in the field of sustainable design, articulates fashion and textiles thinking and systems. Her creative practice is engaged with issues of materiality, making and resilience across areas of art, design and creative technology. Her previous roles include Associate Head of School- Learning and Teaching at the School of Future Environments, AUT and Program Director of the Creative Technologies undergraduate and postgraduate programs, AUT.

 

Dr. Nguyen Van Thang Long, RMIT University Vietnam

Dr. Long T.V Nguyen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication & Design, RMIT University, Vietnam. His research interests are sustainability, gender inequality, health communication, and collective empowerment in cyberspace. He has number of publications on high impact journals including Higher Education Research and Development, Health Communication, The Social Science Journal, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, Journal of Social Marketing, Young Consumers.

Ms. Nguyen Tran Mai Chi, RMIT University Vietnam

Ms. Chi Nguyen Tran Mai is a Research Assistant in the School of Communication & Design at RMIT University Vietnam where she completed her Bachelor's degree in Communication with Distinction. She is a member at the Southeast Asia Research Academy and the Association of Vietnamese Scientists and Experts. She co-wrote academic publications for the Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy conference and the MAG Scholar Conference in Business, Marketing & Tourism, as well as book publications.

ASCILITE 2023 Conference logo: People, Partnerships and Pedagogies

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Published

2023-11-28

Issue

2023: ASCILITE 2023 Conference Proceedings: People, Partnerships and Pedagogies

Section

ASCILITE Conference - Concise Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Assoc. Prof. Donna Cleveland, Dr. Nguyen Van Thang Long, Ms. Nguyen Tran Mai Chi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.