Transforming University Teaching and Learning for Sustainability Education in Hong Kong

• In Event: Transformative Efforts in ESE: Studies from China, Hong Kong, Namibia & Israel.

Proposal

Introduction

Higher education has been increasingly regarded as a critical venue for achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (O’Malley 2020). More importantly, higher education institutions (HEIs) are taking responsibility for promoting sustainability ideas and practices to the young generations through teaching and learning (Levesque and Wake 2021) and the general society through their service and impact to the communities and societies.
In this sense, the Hong Kong public higher education sector has been well recognized in integrating sustainability into institutional strategies and practices. In 2010, eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded public universities established the Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium (HKSCC) to coordinate the efforts of eight institutions in promoting sustainability on campuses (Xiong and Mok 2020). However, many sustainability efforts of the Hong Kong higher education sector primarily focus on environmental management at the institutional level. Therefore, much attention is expected to the integration of sustainability into teaching and learning in both formal and informal contexts. A holistic framework of sustainability education should be created to inform students’ learning and faculty’s professional development.
To explore a holistic framework of transforming higher education teaching and learning for sustainability, this study takes the Hong Kong public universities as the case due to their good performance in the institutional-level efforts. Specifically, this study aims to propose a holistic framework to transform higher education teaching and learning and finally realize the goal of higher education for sustainable development (HESD).

Research Design

Research on integrating sustainability into teaching and learning has attracted considerable attention and has been well studied in Western countries, particularly in Europe (Lozano and Barrriro-Gen 2021). In comparison, the research in Asia is still at the infant stage. Therefore, this study puts a special spotlight on Hong Kong higher education to examine their efforts. The unique characteristics of the Hong Kong higher education sector are carefully reviewed to produce a suitable holistic framework.
To realize the research objectives, a desk-research approach has been applied in this study. This study first reviews the literature related to HESD, especially the integration of sustainability into higher education teaching and learning. Furthermore, this study collected and analyzed the individual and collective efforts of eight UGC-funded universities and their specific sustainability-related courses and professional development programs. Finally, based on the literature review, the analysis of Hong Kong public universities’ efforts, and the global and local higher education contexts, this study proposes a holistic framework to integrating sustainability into higher education teaching and learning in Hong Kong.

Major Findings

The review of Hong Kong public universities’ efforts to promote and integrate SGDs in all aspects of university governance demonstrates a pragmatic orientation striving for a higher position in the newly developed higher education rankings connected to the 17 SDGs. The local and global contexts have created a preferential environment for Hong Kong public universities to integrate sustainability in institutional operations, research, and teaching and learning. However, Hong Kong public universities’ efforts in integrating sustainability into teaching and learning are still at the early stage, especially compared to European higher education. In this sense, the Hong Kong government and UGC policies are needed to guide and support the integration process across eight institutions. Based on the review of the HESD in Hong Kong public universities with an investigation of their contexts, it can be found that a systematic framework can serve a significant role in guiding them to integrate sustainability into teaching and learning holistically. Therefore, this study proposes a holistic framework for this purpose.
The proposed framework aims first to solve the issue identified in Hong Kong higher education to realize the integration of sustainability into teaching and learning by placing a balanced emphasis on students (learning) and faculty members (teaching and professional development). In addition to the traditional emphasis on higher education students’ awareness and competence cultivation, it is equally crucial to empower instructors towards innovating their pedagogical approaches to sustainability education. Therefore, this framework highlights the importance of a systematic professional development program related to sustainability competencies.
Second, this framework proposes that Hong Kong public universities should fully apply the global and local contexts to realize the integration. The trends of emphasizing social impact and promoting evidence-based teaching and learning can be applied to promote the integration of sustainability into teaching and learning. For example, in some Hong Kong universities, faculty’s research has been aligned with one or more SDGs, and they are encouraged to apply their research to inform teaching and enhance students’ learning.
Finally, this framework proposes outcome-based teaching and learning. The outcome-based orientation can lay a good foundation for teaching sustainability competencies in Hong Kong higher education. In specific, sustainability competence should be considered a significant skill set in each course in addition to the learning outcomes of the specific disciplines and courses.

Implications

Hong Kong public universities’ efforts demonstrate the promising potentials of a “bottom-up” approach in integrating sustainability into higher education teaching and learning. At the same time, HKSCC also highlights the significance of collective efforts in realizing SDGs through higher education. However, when HEIs in other countries and regions hope to refer to Hong Kong’s practices, it is necessary to carefully review their contexts and take advantage of the preferential conditions to realize their roles in promoting SDGs and sustainability education.

References

Levesque, V. R., & Wake, C. P. (2021). Organizational change for sustainability education: A case study of one university’s efforts to create and implement institution-wide sustainability competencies. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 22(3), 497-515.

Lozano, R., & Barreiro-Gen, M. (Eds.). (2021). Developing sustainability competences through pedagogical approaches: Experiences from international case studies. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

O’Malley, B. (2020). Universities are key to achieving sustainable development. University World News, 11 July. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200711094917938

Xiong, W., & Mok, K. H. (2020). Sustainability practices of higher education institutions in Hong Kong: A case study of a sustainable campus consortium. Sustainability, 12(2), Article 452.

Author

• Weiyan Xiong, Lingnan University