Editorial: University Education for Sustainable Development: challenges and opportunities

Editorial on the Research Topic
University Education for Sustainable Development: challenges and opportunities

Universities play a pivotal role in advancing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), yet the integration of sustainability across higher education systems remains uneven and incomplete. As highlighted in this Research Topic, institutions face persistent challenges in embedding innovative pedagogies, promoting transdisciplinarity, and cultivating ecological citizenship among students. The contributions to this Research Topic reveal significant gaps between policy aspirations and educational practices, especially in contexts where traditional pedagogical models and resistant curricula slow meaningful innovation. At the same time, emerging models, from blended learning to experiential environmental programs, demonstrate promising pathways for strengthening sustainability competencies and fostering emotional engagement. Leadership approaches, assessment of learning outcomes, and institutional frameworks further shape the effectiveness of ESD implementation. Collectively, these studies illuminate the urgent need for universities to rethink their structures, pedagogies, and values to prepare learners for the complexities of the twenty-first century and contribute meaningfully to global sustainability goals.

University ESD: the big picture

To help confront the sustainability challenges humanity faces, universities must develop ecological citizenship in their students, argue Arbues et al.. Based on a wide-ranging review of sources, the authors describe and analyze the historical policies and practices of university ESD. While the extent of integration of sustainability has grown, it is thus far insufficient. They identify the need for more innovative pedagogies and a greater commitment to transdisciplinarity as key changes which are not yet sufficiently embedded.

Turning specifically to the field of engineering, Sabri calls out the current education as inadequate due to the persistence of traditional pedagogical paradigms, a lack of interdisciplinarity, resistance to curricular innovation, and disconnection from the real world (and its sustainability challenges). Sustainability needs to be integrated in a systematic way into engineering education, a transformation which will include new models of accreditation, innovative pedagogies such as project based learning, and transdisciplinary collaboration among other changes.

How can institutions make the necessary internal transformations to meet the sustainability challenges? Barnett-Itzhaki et al. reviewed over 130 studies, reports, and publications to identify barriers to sustainability integration, existing measures of university ESD, and to identify key recommendations going forward. Achieving the transformation to a sustainable university requires a holistic and interconnected approach and so the authors' offer not just general recommendations but also ones specific to education, health, economy, transportation as well as communication and campaigns.

Finally, Piatanom argues that in the 21st century of accelerating yet unpredictable change, universities need different models to maintain their competitiveness. The framework they propose provides educational leadership with structured guidance, yet beyond any framework, administrators will need to strike a deliberate balance between seeking a competitive advantage and promoting their institutional wellbeing.

ESD integration

One of the key roles for University ESD is to develop programs which train students to fill the growing gaps in the sustainability workforce. Terpstra-Rundel and Möller describe one such effort at a German University. They sought to bring together the needs of a rural, industrial-dominated region, the desires of the students, and the key recommendations from the academic literature into a sustainability master's program. Ultimately the program combined a hybrid learning model, with project based learning, and close collaborations with external partners. Lessons learned and implications for other ESD programs are discussed.

Specific ESD programs are important, but sustainability also needs to be integrated across the curriculum. Bespalyy et al. describe one such effort to integrate sustainable development modules at two Kazakhstan Universities. Importantly, they did not just describe the intervention but collected pre-and-post data to assess its actual impact. While the program did confront difficulties such as teacher resistance, and an inflexible curriculum, the data shows that students' knowledge on sustainability increased, though a group of them nonetheless remained “indifferent” to the challenges of sustainability.

ESD objectives and pedagogies

Gal offers a unique, longitudinal perspective on environmental education through an analysis of the Lesser Kestrel program in Israel. By analyzing the autobiographical narratives of adults who participated in this fifth-grade environmental initiative 19 years earlier, the study reveals that experiential learning creates lasting memories centered on hands-on activities such as nest building and field observations. Notably, while participants retained vivid memories of collaborative experiences and emotional connections with nature, they only demonstrated limited retention of the scientific content. The research presents an “Expanded Circle of Influence” model that illustrates how environmental education impacts immediate experiences, personal development, social skills, and long-term values formation. However, Gal acknowledges a critical gap: while participants reported increased environmental awareness and emotional attachment, few provided concrete examples of sustained pro-environmental behaviors into adulthood.

Complementing this focus on experiential learning, Xinfa et al. investigated blended learning methodologies in Chinese higher education, examining how integrating online and face-to-face instruction contributes to ESD. Their quantitative analysis of 117 university students revealed that blended learning significantly improved student satisfaction and academic performance, while potentially reducing environmental impact by decreasing paper consumption and commuting emissions. The study emphasizes that blended learning has the potential to improve student satisfaction, academic performance, and promote the sustainable development of education, although the authors acknowledge limitations in their fixed-order experimental design that may have introduced carryover effects.

Ventura and Ventura-Campos further our understanding of the role of leadership in collaborative learning environments through an innovative experimental study using LEGO-based construction tasks. Their research with 93 university students demonstrated that transformational leadership fostered sustained positive emotional climates and superior task performance compared to transactional leadership, where no team achieved perfect construction and the vast majority reported insufficient time. The findings revealed that “transformational leadership” fostered a sustained increase in positive emotional climate and better task performance, while transactional approaches were associated with progressive increases in negative emotions such as frustration and stress. These results suggest that training educators in transformational leadership is essential for creating emotionally supportive environments that foster sustainable competencies.

Finally, Kabysheva uses computational methods to analyze how critical thinking, identified by UNESCO as essential for achieving the SDGs, is integrated into teacher training curricula in Kazakhstan. Through an automated analysis of verb frequency, aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy in 910 educational programs, the study revealed that although critical thinking is explicitly mentioned in learning outcomes, higher-order thinking skills remain underrepresented. The analysis revealed that “application” verbs predominated, while “evaluation” appeared in less than half of the programs. Kabysheva concludes that critical thinking receives only limited emphasis in learning outcomes. The study recommends a more balanced integration of Bloom's Taxonomy categories and a greater focus on evaluation competencies.

Rethinking university teaching

Universities are undergoing major changes as contingent faculty become the dominant teaching group, but promotion systems have not evolved effectively. Canares et al. argue that the traditional Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure (APT) frameworks fail to recognize the expanded responsibilities and contributions of teaching-focused faculty (TFF), resulting in persistent job insecurity and high turnover. To bridge this gap, the authors propose teaching practice as the central pillar of evaluation, supported by evidence from multiple sources and complemented by scholarship and service tied to pedagogical innovation.

A complementary key aspect of teaching is its groundedness in ethical foundations. Chen and Shih explore how Nel Noddings' ethics of care offers a powerful framework for reimagining teacher–student relationships in higher education. By integrating care ethics into classroom interactions and institutional culture, higher education can better support students' holistic development. The article ultimately positions care as essential for building compassionate, student-centered learning environments capable of responding to contemporary educational challenges.

Another critical aspect of contemporary teaching practice relates to climate change. Ramadani et al. highlight the urgent need to strengthen climate change and health education within teacher preparation programs in Kosovo, where current curricula offer only limited and fragmented coverage of these topics. Their mixed-methods study reveals that although preservice teachers show strong motivation to learn about and teach climate–health connections, they lack formal training, practical experience, and institutional support. The authors argue that universities should harness preservice teachers' enthusiasm by expanding curricula, investing in faculty capacity, and promoting co-creation initiatives. Together, this study underscores the need for a care-centered pedagogy and a reinforced climate–health education to navigate the complexities of the contemporary era.

Outside the classroom

Teaching beyond the classroom is not merely an option but a pedagogical approach that redefines teaching practice, fostering community participation and youth engagement with sustainable development. De La Rosa Ruiz and Gimenez Armentia show that neighborhood and associative movements in vulnerable urban contexts have reemerged as powerful engines of social cohesion and civic participation, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their mixed-methods study reveals strong patterns of cooperation and collective agency, demonstrating how community-led initiatives embody core principles of ESD. By fostering democratic participation and nurturing socio-emotional competencies, neighborhood movements strengthen the social fabric and cultivate long-term resilience.

In line with this community-based approach, Saleh et al. examine the declining engagement of Omani youth in voluntary activities and argue that universities must play a more active role in cultivating civic participation. Through a quasi-experimental design involving two student groups, the authors demonstrate that a culturally adapted, 40-h training program significantly improves learners' knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to volunteering. The study underscores the potential of university-based initiatives to advance ESD targets, particularly SDGs 4.7 and 17.17, by empowering young people as socially committed actors.

Regarding the study by Maquera et al., the importance of close contact is reflected in several socioeconomic, institutional, and personal factors that shape student dropout at the National University of Moquegua (UNAM) within the Peruvian context. Drawing on survey data from 771 students and a Probit model, the authors show that parental motivation strongly protects against dropout, while factors such as a mother's lack of formal education, a father working in commerce, and limited digital resources significantly increase risk.

Conclusions

The studies synthesized in this editorial underscore that meaningful progress toward ESD requires sustained institutional commitment, pedagogical innovation, and community engagement. While universities have taken important steps toward integrating sustainability, significant work remains to align curricula, assessment systems, leadership practices, and teacher preparation with the competencies demanded to foster the necessary societal transformations to sustainability. The contributions to this Research Topic reveal that emotionally supportive learning climates, experiential and technology-enhanced pedagogies, and care-centered educational relationships can substantially strengthen students' sustainability dispositions. At the same time, structural barriers, such as rigid curricula, limited faculty recognition, and insufficient training in climate and health, continue to slow progress. Evidence from community-based initiatives and youth engagement programs further demonstrates the transformative potential of partnerships beyond the classroom. Taken together, these insights suggest that truly implementing ESD will require universities to adopt holistic, interdisciplinary approaches that translate knowledge, values, and skills into lasting individual and societal change.

Author contributions

DG-M: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AR: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. JÁ-H: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft.

Conflict of interest

The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Generative AI statement

The author(s) declared that generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.

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