We all support the idea of moving towards a system that operates within planetary boundaries, and promotes well-being as well as social justice. In the Sustainability Transitions minor, you will develop the competencies and resilience necessary to lead these systems effectively. 

Almost all citizens, professionals, companies and organisations realise and endorse that we need to move away from a society that has organised itself based on a socioeconomic system that exhausts our planet, focuses exclusively on economic growth and results in ever-growing inequality. Simply put, most of us are well aware of the fact that ‘something’ needs to change.

Almost all of us support the idea of moving towards a system that operates within planetary boundaries, promotes well-being and does so based on the principle of social justice.

Simultaneously, many professionals, companies and organisations, including those in the domains served by Breda University of Applied Sciences, struggle to find the best way to make a significant and meaningful contribution to this much-needed societal transition. Quite understandably, because sustainability transitions are complex, sometimes messy, and oftentimes confusing, especially because there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to your own contribution.

What does all this mean for you as a future professional? What will your role be in all this?

What is it all about?
This minor is designed to assist you in developing your own perspective on sustainability transitions.  Through participating in this minor, you will be empowered to develop your own professional identity as a future professional with respect to sustainability transitions. You will be facilitated in (further) developing the competencies and resilience needed to lead systems change at the level you would like to be active, in the way that fits your personal and professional preferences and your world view.

Challenge-Based Learning
This minor applies the Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) approach. The essence of this approach is that students, lecturers and experts collaborate to tackle real- world problems through asking the right questions, developing deeper subject area knowledge, accepting and solving challenges, taking action, and sharing their experiences. Some of these challenges will be pre-defined – to assist you with learning how to learn – and others will be defined by you. This means that you have the opportunity to define and work on challenges that interest you, that make you tick.

What’s in it for me?
Through defining your own challenges, you can focus on topics and subject areas that you find most interesting, that actually relate to and prepare you for the professional career you would like to pursue and the type of contribution you would like to make to shaping a better world. Would you like to focus on preserving biodiversity or fighting climate change, or would you prefer to focus on reducing inequality and improving well-being of residents in local communities? Not everybody wants to be a tree -hugger and not everybody is meant to be a social worker. This minor allows you to develop your own sustainability transition pathway, based on your own interests, dreams and passions.

By the end of this minor you have developed your own professional identity in relation to making a meaningful contribution to sustainability transitions, and you have developed the competencies and resilience necessary to make this contribution.

To guide this development process, we use the Key Competencies for Sustainability (UNESCO, 2017). These competencies have been identified by UNESCO as crucial to advance sustainable development and are closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2017 report “Education for Sustainable Development Goal – Learning Objectives” by UNESCO further elaborates on this link and illustrates how specific cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural learning objectives can be identified in relation to each of the 17 SDGs.

Propaedeutic certificate obtained
Motivation letter and interview
Good level of English

n/a

Final product and interview

Competencies

• Systems thinking competency: the abilities to recognise and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty.
• Anticipatory competency: the abilities to understand and evaluate multiple futures – possible, probable and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes.
• Normative competency: the abilities to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate sustainability values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interests and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions.
• Strategic competency: the abilities to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield.
• Collaboration competency: the abilities to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem- solving.
• Critical thinking competency: the ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions; and to take a position in the sustainability discourse.
• Self-awareness competency: the ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires.
• Integrated problem-solving competency: the overarching ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive and equitable solution options that promote sustainable development, integrating the above.

Topics
Through applying Challenge-Based Learning, we will touch upon all topics relevant to developing the above competencies, while allowing room for your own preferences with respect to subject areas across all 17 SDGs.

Structure of the minor
Everyone has a different background, perspective, and goal in life.This also means that you will all develop different professional identities and your underlying competencies in different ways. We will provide you with a basic structure to support you in this process, while allowing you the freedom to explore this identity through activities you design yourself. All these things will come together in a final product and interview through which you will be assessed.

Challenge-Based Learning sessions
The basic structure through which all students will develop their identities and competencies is through collaborating in Challenge-Based Learning. You are assisted in applying this approach by our CBL- coaches at regular meetings. Together with your coaches, you might organise additional activities, such as seminars, debates, field trips, and more.

Coffee Corners
We will also invite guests to join us, in an informal setting, to talk about how they have shaped their contribution to sustainability transitions. You will get the chance to ask them everything you need to know to further refine your own perspective on sustainability transitions and use these answers as inspiration for developing your own professional identity and your own contribution to sustainability transitions.

Teaching methods
Challenge-Based Learning
Coffee Corners

International context
Throughout this minor, differences in cultural valuations of ethical dilemmas and sustainability initiatives will be considered and highlighted.