Journal of Cleaner Production 108 (2015) 916e923

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Integration of sustainable development in higher education e

a regional initiative in Quebec (Canada)

ronique Bisaillon b, Alain Webster b, Ben Amor a, *
Chirjiv Kaur Anand a, Ve
Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Universit

e de Sherbrooke, Canada
Ofce of the Vice-President, Sustainable Development and Government Relations, Universit

e de Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. de l'Universit

e, Sherbrooke, Qu

ebec
J1K 2R1, Canada
a

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 13 November 2014
Received in revised form
25 June 2015
Accepted 28 June 2015
Available online 3 July 2015

Integration of sustainable development in education is now being addressed in numerous educational

institutions across the globe. Based on different integration approaches, various teaching methods are
being developed, applied and evaluated. Efforts are also being made in the direction of strengthening
pedagogical approaches as well as educator training to address issues such as, lack of awareness and
resources required for a better transfer of sustainable development knowledge from educator to students. There is a strong need for these two approaches (integration & pedagogical) to work in close
association for an improved level of integration. Regional collaborations are an effective way to address
such issues. They can play a key role in achieving sustainability regionally while being inuenced by, and
inuencing, both local and global communities, and that is the main hypothesis of this paper. The goal of
this paper is to present a regionalized educational initiative for integration of sustainable development in
higher education made by two universities and ve colleges in Quebec (Canada). This project is not only
dedicated to teaching or application of approaches but is also expanded to: 1) professors' support using
various activities (conferences, workshops and short lectures); 2) program integrations; 3) integration at
institutional level (as some institutions have adopted various policies and actions regarding their overall
missions of research, community outreach and operations); and, 4) regional collaboration between the
seven academic partners, which is a unique characteristic of this project. As a result, this regional
collaborative approach helped in building a critical mass of practitioners in the eld and launched a
community of practice and integrated sustainable development in the member institutions at different
levels, strengthening the educator's knowledge on sustainable development pedagogy. Based on the
preliminary analysis of surveys taken by students, this integration has helped in developing the understanding of sustainable development by students and has also resulted in a positive attitude towards
sustainable development. In addition, the integrations as a result of the collaboration show that integration of sustainable development in higher education is accomplished not only through pedagogical
and extracurricular activities but is also embodied in the overall student experience on campus.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Sustainable development in higher
education
Regional sustainability
Sustainable development pedagogy
Collaborating for sustainable development
Teacher support

1. Introduction
Education has long been recognized as a vital means for
achieving sustainable development (SD). Numerous educational
institutions continuously make efforts to inculcate SD practices in
their pedagogy. However, questions regarding, the approach, to
teaching sustainability, as well as training learners to bring about a

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: chirjiv.anand@usherbrooke.ca (C.K. Anand), ben.amor@
usherbrooke.ca (B. Amor).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.06.134
0959-6526/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

change in a society, arise during efforts being made to integrate

sustainable development in education (SDE) (Burns, 2011; Stir,
2006) indicating the scope of improvement required in the area
of SDE (Lozano et al., 2013).
Different approaches such as integration of sustainability at
different levels (Sterling, 2004), preparation of manuals for teachers, inviting teachers to write manuals on integration of SDE,
related to their courses (Ceulemans and De Prins, 2010), nondiscipline specic frameworks (Rusinko, 2010) etc., have been
proposed for achieving SDE. Following such approaches, efforts
such as, introduction of a sustainability program (Vincent et al.,
2013) teaching of courses via faculty from different areas of

C.K. Anand et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 108 (2015) 916e923

expertise, working together of students from different elds on a

specic scientic problem (Barth et al., 2007), designing of projects
under the supervision of academic as well as industrial supervisors
(Chau, 2007), have been adopted in previous years. In addition,
there exist various declaration, such as Talloires (1990), Swansea
(1993), Halifax (1991), etc., that several universities across the globe
have signed. Engaging in educational practices that lead to sustainable development is a guideline for a sustainable future, in all
these declarations. Yet, there still exist considerable barriers to
integration of SDE because of comparatively less interest and efforts
by educators in integration of SD (Evangelinos et al., 2009; Zilahy
and Huisingh, 2009) compared to campus sustainability efforts
(Acevedo et al., 2012). The integration methods adopted in literature have pointed out barriers to integration of SDE such as, lack of
shared language and understanding to discuss SD (Anderberg et al.,
2009; Lozano et al., 2013), discipline focused nature of academic
work, perceived irrelevance of SDE, in some disciplines (Lozano
et al., 2013), lack of curriculum time (Cotton et al., 2009),
comparative newness of the sustainability agenda, and loss of
essential course material due to addition of sustainability course
material (Chau, 2007).
For building sustainable societies, regional networking for
integrating SDE have been recommended (Niu et al., 2010). A
regional perspective is also deemed necessary in order to apply
national and international solutions at local or regional levels.
Regional sustainability initiatives have the potential to successfully
implement SD given the small size of the region, compared to a
nation for example. Also, the attitude to pay more attention to a
problem in the vicinity, is considered an asset in case of regional
sustainability efforts (Zilahy and Huisingh, 2009). Regional consortiums either between universities or with industrial partners or
both, offer a wide range of possibilities and advantages. For
example, use of regional resources in projects, working in collaboration with partner institutes or regional industries to address
regional sustainability issues, possibility of interdisciplinary
involvement for addressing regional sustainability issues. Working
on regional sustainability issues, gives the students as well as the
educators exposure to practically dealing with sustainability issues
and challenges in the society, in possible cases also allowing them
to be able to see sustainable solutions being adopted. In addition, it
offers an extended support group beyond the educational institute
and an opportunity to meet, network and collaborate with people
with a common vision and benet from peer-review of the integration approach.
The networks approach for integration of SDE has also been
adopted by universities (E.g., Fadeeva and Mochizuki, 2010; Junyent
and Ciurana, 2008; Chase and Rowland, 2004), in various ways. For
example, the Ponderosa project at the Northern Arizona University
(NAU) (initiated in 1994), involved faculty from various disciplines
at NAU that were interested in environmental sustainability education, and focused on incorporating environmental sustainability
issues in their courses (Chase and Rowland, 2004). The project is no
longer active but it set the wheels in motion, resulting in development of SD related courses, minors and graduate programs in
different streams in the university, by faculty that were involved in
the Ponderosa project for several years. Member universities of
ProSPER.Net formed a regional network to propose an alternative
university appraisal model based on university contributions to SD
(Fadeeva and Mochizuki, 2010). Another model (ACES) was also
proposed by 11 European and Latin American universities to reorient higher education studies towards sustainability (Junyent and
Ciurana, 2008). University educators for sustainable development
(UE4SD) are another large network with 52 partners from 33 European countries, collaborating for a three year period (started in
2013) to re-orient the higher education curriculum to address

917

sustainable development. Their focus is on the very essential

educator support and also non-discipline specic integration
(UE4SD, 2013). As a part of this initiative, the universities have
started various efforts at local, regional as well as national levels
with an aim to create a platform for sharing the expertise of partner
network and beneting from it long after the termination of the
program.
There are national and international networks that connect with
educational institutions at regional and perhaps even local levels
for integration of SDE. One such network is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Canada, with regional working groups or
networks in almost all provinces and territories. Quebec is one of
the 3 regions where a ESD Canada working group has not yet been
formed, stating the need for a sustainability working group in the
province of Quebec, keeping in mind the importance of integration
of SDE and the insufciency of participation in SD by organizations
(Zilahy and Huisingh, 2009). Two regional efforts (from less than
ve years ago not including the current project), have been noted so
far, in Quebec. Regional Centres of Expertise on education for sustainable development (RCE) were proposed and pilot RCE's were
launched in 2005 (United Nations University, 2011). There are
currently 135 RCE's all over the world, out of which 2 were initiated
in Quebec, RCE Maurice/Centre-du-Quebec (founded in December
2012) & RCE Montreal (United Nations University, 2011). These
RCE's involve educational as well as industrial partners and government. The RCE Maurice/Centre-du-Quebec has 8 partner organizations including business, formal education, environmental and
municipal sectors being supported by one coordinator. RCE Maurice/Centre du Quebec is currently in developmental stage and is yet
to begin its working stage. The RCE at Montreal operated only for a
limited amount of time and to the best of the authors' knowledge is
no longer active.
This paper aims to provide a SD integration approach at a
regional level. As a part of a regional collaboration, the approaches
adopted aim to aid in eliminating the barriers encountered by educators to integrate SDE at different levels (course, curriculum &
institution). The attempt made via this collaboration is to provide
both, SD awareness via education and the using education as a tool
to achieve sustainability and thus contribute to a positive impact on
future citizen's behavior.
A regional initiative, PACTE 2D (Acronym in French for Partnership, Learning, Collaboration and Transfer in Sustainable
Development Education (PACTE 2D, 2011)) was made by two universities and ve colleges (French and English speaking institutions) in Quebec for integration of SD in higher education. The

de Sherbrooke, Bishop's University, as well as the
Universite

geps (Colleges) of Sherbrooke, Drummondville, Granby-Haute5 Ce
Yamaska, Victoriaville and the Lennoxville campus of Champlain
Regional College joined forces to work towards integrating SD into
higher education in 2010.
PACTE 2D is an ongoing project. The collaboration between the

de Sherbrooke. There
seven institutions was initiated by Universite
is at least one PACTE 2D representative at each of the member institutions, to help with creating links to communicate with PACTE
2D community regarding any information for carrying out the institutions projects. All the institutions combined have a population
of larger than 40,000 students of which, depending on the integration initiatives at different levels in different member institutions, a different number of students are involved at a
particular time.

de Sherbrooke and the Ce

gep at
Before PACT 2D, Universite
Granby-Haute-Yamasaka had some efforts in place in the area of
integrating SDE. In the other member institutions the efforts were
initiated after PACTE 2D. In the context of integration of SDE, Uni
de Sherbrooke, over the last 40 years, has developed a solid
versite

918

C.K. Anand et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 108 (2015) 916e923

expertise in this eld with its Master's program in Environment

offered by the University Center for Environmental and Sustainable
Development Studies (CUFE e University Training Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development). In addition to this Master's
program in Environment, the CUFE developed a new Bachelor's
degree in Environmental Studies, supplemented by in-service
training. Granby-Haute-Yamasaka, has a sustainable tourism program, active since the last 10 years. In parallel to such approaches,
aiming to answer requests from specialists in the environment and
SD elds, higher education establishments should take up the responsibility of training the students to be responsible citizens and,
professionals, from various domains. The challenge, in addition to
the specialist training, lies also in integrating SD to all the general
and professional training courses offered by our higher education
institutions. No matter what the institutional level of commitment
towards SDE or the strategies adopted to integrate it in institutions
or programs might be, the same fundamental questions always
arise: how can SD be integrated into higher education, curriculums
and programs? How to support teachers and professors? What are
the targeted learning objectives? And the approach presented in
this article is in response to these questions.
The PACTE 2D initiative was rst documented as a part of a book
chapter (Bisaillon et al., 2015). This manuscript is a follow-up of the
previous publication. First, it lays emphasis on the need for regional
networks in Quebec and demonstrates how the presented
approach can be used to support the regional integration of SDE
and thus the integration in a society. In the manuscript, the focus on
the past and present developments in integration of sustainable
development in education (section 1) are added to highlight the
contribution of the PACTE 2D project in comparison to other initiatives. This comes in addition to the added emphasis on the need
for a network-based approach, in the Quebec context. Second, the
manuscript presents more technical details on the need for each
strategy in the approach (Section 2 e Methods). Finally, it includes
more additional examples following the application of the developed approach in member institutions (Section 3 e Results and
Discussion).
In the following section (section 2), we aim to layout the proposed approach encompassing different strategies. In a distinct
section (section 3), the article explains how these strategies are
being used in PACTE 2D with case examples from member institutions where applicable. Finally (in section 4), the article will
conclude by opening onto potential avenues for reection and action to further advance the integration of SD into higher education
and, to evaluate the learning outcomes of integration of sustainability in education.
2. Methods
Collaborating to integrate sustainable development in education:
As a part of this collaboration, (PACTE 2D) of universities and colleges, the following strategies, i.e. providing support to professors,
integrating SD into curriculums and integration of SD into institutional approaches, their mission and management activities, were
adopted. Regional collaboration is the foundation of this project,
which sets it in a large collaborative vision such as described by
Huxham and Vangen (2005), Balantzian (1997) and Beyerlein
(2003). With core values such as transparency and coordinated
dialogue, the novel collaboration of PACTE 2D does not follow a
predetermined formula but focuses instead, on different strategies,
depending on the respective needs of stakeholders, according to a
logic based on progressive and collective construction. PACTE 2D
therefore integrates two types of collaboration (operational and
institutional). As far as operational collaborations are concerned, a
connection is made between teachers and professors as part of

pedagogical days or workshops on professional development, in

order to exchange their experiences on their teaching practices. At
the institutional level, the collaboration tends to focus more on the
policies and programs of the institutions concerned and on their
interrelations in order to adopt coherent strategies. The following
paragraphs explain how operational and institutional collaborations can be used in integrating SDE.
2.1. Strategy used: assistance and support for professors
The assistance and support required by the teaching staff is
fundamental for any approach aiming to integrate SD into higher
education, especially in a context where the programs are already
overloaded and the professors often feel overwhelmed or insufciently competent regarding SDE (Barlett and Rappaport, 2009;
m et al., 2008a). The creation of a community or platSvanstro
form allowing interested teachers and professors to exchange ideas
and experiences on the subject of SDE seems to be the strategy
offering the best potential to address the lack of educator support
(Chase, 2009).
The Piedmont1 project at Emory University in Atlanta, launched
in 2001, and the Ponderosa2 project (1995e2002) at Northern
Arizona University are among the rst initiatives pursuing specifically to engage and support professors interested in integrating SD
in their classes. These projects were based on learning from peers
and seeking to create a community of teachers and professors
interested in SD (Barlett and Rappaport, 2009). Although several
teachers and professors recognize the importance of SD issues and
the relevance to incorporate SD into student education, moving on
to action till date comes with its own set of challenges (Shiel and
Williams, 2015). For many, the integration of SD raises questions
regarding the pedagogical approaches used (Stubbs and Schaper,
2011) and is associated with more participative educational efforts (Brunetti et al., 2003). This can include student engagement
with initiatives taking place on the campus (Davis et al., 2003),
experiential learning (Dieleman and Huisingh, 2006; Hegarty and
Thomas, 2011) or, more generally, a teaching approach more
centered on students (Barth et al., 2007; Cotton et al., 2009; Stubbs
and Schapper, 2011). Incidentally, the integration of SD in higher
education, which can represent a strictly technical change at rst
(with added content in SD), is actually seen by most as a cultural
change to set up in our higher education institutions (Grange, 2011;

rez-Na

jera, 2006; Peet et al., 2004).
Jua
As an objective of PACTE 2D, the essential support is offered to
interested teachers and professors. The PACT 2D community are
offered general resources such as integration techniques, using
community resources, contextualizing, taking action, encouragement reection and commitment, using unintentional learning,
classroom management (explained in depth with examples in
section 3). In addition, course specic assistance, to aid in integrating SD via their courses is available when required. The resources and opportunities provided include, articles, reference
materials, websites, lunchtime presentations, as well as discussion,
of their respective projects and SDE experiences, academic workshops organized in several universities and also online newsletters,
published periodically to foster and feed this community. These
resources also include the work done at member institutions. In
November 2013, PACTE 2D more formally launched a community of
practice (or working group) in SD education. Prior to launching the

1
Project's website: sustainability.emory.edu/page/1021/Piedmont-Project/. Possibility to consult modied course syllabuses. These courses touch on a variety of
elds from pure science to human/social science and healthcare, for instance.
2
Project's website: www.greenguide.nau.edu/ponderosa.html.

C.K. Anand et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 108 (2015) 916e923

community also, conferences and presentations were conducted in

2011 and 2012 to promote the integration of SDE. In the rst
meeting (in 2013) as a community, participants were invited to
express their views on possible activities and angles to adopt. A
specic (mailing) distribution list has also been recently created to
support communication among members in between formal
activities.
In the last three years, two-day workshops have been organized
as part of PACTE 2D. The workshops targeted two objectives, being
to allow teachers and professors to position themselves with
regards to SD and SDE, and to adapt their teaching practices in this
area. These workshops provide a platform for teachers and professors, from wide ranging elds including engineering, humanities, mathematics, tourism, business administration, law, ecology
etc., to connect, exchange and develop tangible strategies of action.
The rst two workshops were held in 2012 and 2013 and the third,
held in June 2014, offered a distinct program for new participants as
well as more experienced ones as far as SDE is concerned,
following on the idea of a community of practice (or working
group). The organization committee also widened the scope of the
workshop to include teachers and professors as well as other
stakeholders. This workshop is attended annually by 20e30
participants.
2.2. Strategy used: integration of sustainable development at the
curriculum level
In addition to integration of SD in courses, another level of
integration invested as part of the collaborative project is the
integration at the level of curriculums and programs. Integration
that is curriculum wide or program wide helps students to relate to
SD in the context of their stream of specialization. This integration
strategy echoes changes in professional practices inherent to the
context and challenges of SD. In 2011, the Canadian Engineering
Accreditation Board added SD among the qualities required from
graduates in its accreditation standards and procedures (Canadian
Engineering Accreditation Board, 2014). The Barreau du Qu

ebec
also recognizes the importance of SD within the lawyer profession's

bec, 2011). In the elds of administraframework (Barreau du Que
tion, ethical, social and environmental responsibility, SD questions
can no longer be ignored.
As a part of PACTE 2D different approaches were used by
member institutions for integration of SD at curriculum level such
as studying the entire curriculum in order to determine the areas
where integration was possible, to introduce issues and approaches
to SD in context of different subjects; offering supplementary
courses to all students, including students from other specializations; introducing new courses with more in-depth relation to the
area in question. In addition to development of new courses, the
already introduced courses and programs are also reviewed and
enhanced after their introduction with input from members. The
tourism program at Granby-Haute-Yamasaka College (a PACTE 2D
member institute) is a great resource to teachers with regards to
curriculum level integration (Lusignan, 2013).

919

via awarding grants for sustainable projects, policy wide integration, action plans and campaigns. Given the diversity of possible
strategies and actions, the question is no longer about whether or
not, at the level of a student's program, SD should be integrated into
a specic course or throughout the whole curriculum, as raised by a
number of authors (Barth et al., 2007; Hegarty et al., 2011). The
issue resides instead in the integration of SD in the student's
journey and experience. Such an integration is based not only on
the expertise of teachers and professors, but also on research
involving the contribution of all institutional strategies related to
SD. It is also acknowledged that the integration of SD into the
student's journey and experience needs to focus on the academic,
as well as peri-academic pathways including extracurricular activities, and the whole lifestyle on offer in a higher education
institution, within which the students progress in their studies.
Fig. 1 shows a model of integration of SD in higher education
institutions adapted from two approaches. The four elements
(curriculum, campus, community and culture) in the framework
are interdependent and complementary targets in the integration
of SD in mutually reinforcing universities (Jones et al., 2010. In
another approach, Chase (2009) identies four elements to the
integration of SD into higher education, being curriculum, research,
university operations and relationships with the community, a
model onto which rest all the actions of the Association for the
Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
(Chase, 2009). According to our model of integration, the four targets (research, curriculum, operations and life on campus, as well as
community) for integration of SD in an institution can be fed by or
feed the other three, whilst contributing to an institutional culture
integrating SD more efciently. Hence, this is the framework
adopted in PACTE 2D.
3. Results and discussion
As a result of the collaboration, between the member institutions, the strategies discussed in section 2 were applied by
different educators to courses, curricula and institution, in the
member institutions. This section discusses the collaboration as
well as the application of the strategies as a part of this collaboration, in the member institutions.

2.3. Strategy used: developing a global approach for the integrating

sd at institutional level
A third category of initiatives concerns higher education institutions, their rst responsibility being to adopt and commit to a
vision, objectives and actions for SDE within the institutional
community. Initiatives targeting the integration of SD in higher
education range from very specic teaching-oriented actions to
faculty or institution led strategies. Integration of SD can also be
achieved at institutional level by methods such as, encouragement

Fig. 1. Model of integration of sustainable development in higher education institutions adapted from Jones et al. (2010) and Chase (2009).

920

C.K. Anand et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 108 (2015) 916e923

Collaborating to integrate SD in higher education: PACTE 2D is a

very timely project for several higher education institutions
considering the introduction of SD as a professional competency by
Engineers Canada (Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board,
2014). Although collaboration is both time and energy
consuming, as highlighted by various authors (Huxham and
Vangen, 2005), and even though keeping these collaboration
mechanisms going in the long-term is a real challenge (including
nancial support challenges), this approach is also a powerful lever
and springboard in the current project. PACTE 2D has helped
reinforce initiatives aiming to integrate SD within partner institutions. The regional collaborative approach made it possible to
pool and share resources, and to feed the reection and elements of
response relative to these questions in a more integrated and
exhaustive manner. Teachers or program committees wishing to
see their institutions becoming more engaged with SDE also nd in
this project a network with which to get involved. It helps them
pursue and deepen their engagement in this eld and expand it
outside of their organization.
3.1. Strategy results: assist and support professors in their SD
pedagogical approaches
The strategies that PACTE 2D introduced to the teachers and
professors in order to aid them in their pedagogical approaches are
explained in this section with examples (where applicable), of
implementation from member institutions.
3.1.1. Using available resources
Resources are considered an important sustainability related
curricula theme (Byrne et al, 2013). Following are examples from
member institutions of how educational resources as well as resources from the eld have been used in different focus areas.

gep de DrummondA number of biology laboratories at the Ce
ville (Drummondville College), take place in Drummond forest,
giving students an opportunity to use a resource from the eld in
their learning program. The students can measure the impact of
human activities on their environment in a very tangible way (diversity and productivity of ecosystems, impact of anthropogenic
activities on water quality, etc.), predict their long-term consequences and nd possible solutions to the problems observed.
Using resources from the eld also leads to reduced costs in
perishable material such as plankton (previously bought outside of
and delivered to Drummondville).

de Sherbrooke the
At the Engineering faculty, in Universite
course Project Design in Civil Engineering (GCI 900) provides
students with the possibility to integrate their previously attained
SD knowledge, acquired during their undergraduate courses with
a civil engineering project design affected by real problems and
constraints. In the rst part of the course, students grouped in
teams are required to nd solutions to a real problem submitted by
their client (civil engineering rms or others). Environmental issues used to be taught more generally as part of the literature
review. Now, following a streamlined method of Life Cycle Analysis
(LCA), a professor joins this activity and accompanies teams of
students so that they can apply it to the proposed range of solutions. In the case of a bridge replacement for instance, students
have to analyze several approaches for a replacement. Using the
streamlined LCA, as an assessment method of environmental impacts in various capstone projects, is made from cradle to grave, i.e.
focusing as much on the production phase of construction materials and choice of suppliers, as on the installation of the new
bridge (for example) and the options for its own replacement at
the end of its life. The streamlined LCA thus complements other
analyses the teams have to run (i.e. functional analysis, risk

analysis, economic analysis). Having all these answers in hand, all

the teams have the opportunity to justify the preferred solutions in
a perspective of SD while shedding light on possible improvement
measures for the chosen solution. In the second part of the course,
teams have to prepare their plans and specications for the
preferred solutions. The nal report submitted to their corresponding client integrates results obtained from the streamlined
LCA.
3.1.2. Contextualization
Several institutions have already adopted SD actions as part of
their institutional management. In this context, those responsible
for the application of a SD policy or for a specic project, or teachers
from other elds of study can have a different approach to that eld
of study and contextualize SD through real case studies. In case of
some disciplines, knowledge transfer in the context of SD is
comparatively more obvious than in some others. Therefore, all the
institutional actions focusing to integrate SD into the institutional
policies and management are levers that teachers can use. SD can
become the context surrounding the teaching content. Several
teachers already apply this by drawing the attention of students to
the news, lled with SD challenges, to introduce the concepts
taught. On the other side, students can also lead their practical
work in direct relation with their environment or with an aim to
improve the environment. Following are examples from PACTE 2D
member institutions of SDE in the context of adopting SD for
institutional management and improving the surrounding the
environment.

gep de
As part of a course on social practices taught at the Ce
Sherbrooke, students were asked to identify a problem related to
the development of the campus in terms of management of natural
resources. The students were required to make a diagnosis and to
establish a list of recommendations to the institution's planning
and development committee. The course offered follows an integrated resources management approach. At various occasions
throughout the course, teachers call upon stakeholders from the
eld or college employees, allowing the teachers to enrich their
teaching whilst giving students the opportunity to compare their
points of view with those of other experts.

de Sherbrooke was considering installing a
As the Universite
compost system on its main campus, graduate students in administration carried out the preliminary feasibility study for this project. The project progressed and was then taken on by students in
the Faculty of Engineering, leading to a ban on plastic tableware on
campus, its replacement with compostable tableware such as bioplastics, and the annual composting of more than 70 tonnes of
organic matter on campus.

gep de Drummondville,
In the Natural Science program, at Ce
the courses' content is presented in a perspective of energy issues and SD. The potential of hydrogen as a green combustible
fuel, biomethanisers and issue of biofuels are examples used in
the classroom to explain a number of theoretical notions. The use
of SD to contextualize such notions can also have a positive
impact on teaching and learning by improving the perceived
professional relevance and usefulness of acquired knowledge

dard, 2006).
(Be
3.1.3. Involving students, inspiring them to take action at
community level
Considering the end goal of SDE to train actors capable of not
just thinking but also taking action (Svanstrom et al., 2008b;
Lundqvist and Svanstrom, 2008; Learning for a Sustainable Future;
Tilbury, 2011), the integration of SD into higher education tends to
require a more active academic approach, more centered on students or more closely linked with the community and environment

C.K. Anand et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 108 (2015) 916e923

(Rands, 2009). The Experiential Learning Program through Community Involvement (or PAEIC e Programme d'apprentissage

de
exp

erientiel par l'intervention communautaire) at the Universite
Sherbrooke3 pursues two objectives, i.e. to encourage members of
the university community to get involved, and to develop the capacity of community groups to fulll their social mission. PAEIC
works to bring together university students and community to
work collectively on community projects. Such initiatives make it
possible to merge the learning objectives set in academic courses
with the needs of a group or organization, as part of a project,
generally running over a semester. This interconnection allows
students from various elds of study (administration, law, engineering, etc.) to get to know community stakeholders and to better
understand their reality.

gep de Victoriaville, as part of the geography course,
At the Ce
Quebec Space and Methodology, students characterize sections
of the riparian zone to determine priority areas for action, and
offer solutions. The analysis made by the students is then passed
on to the city professionals. Students in the Tourism Techniques

gep de Granby e Haute-Yamaska collaborate
program at the Ce
with community organizations as part of their training and
integrate eco responsibility notions into the organization of
events.

3.1.4. Encourage students to get involved with and compare their

views on SD
In the literature, various examples of integration of SD into
higher education insist on the importance to question the learning
process and not just the content (Stubbs and Schaper, 2011). According to this view, teachers are asked to act more as guides in
the reective learning process than as mere knowledge providers. In this perspective, activities have been suggested where
students have to run independent research to make up their own
opinions, develop their own critical and reective thinking, and
compare their views with those of their peers (Stubbs and
Schaper, 2011; Hegarty et al., 2011). This position taken by
teachers allows them to neutralize the feeling that they may not
be qualied or specialized enough to tackle SD issues with their
students.
In practice, homework, laboratories, projects etc., can be used as
a stepping stone towards the integration, requiring that the stu

dents lead their own reection with regards to SD. At the Universite
de Sherbrooke for instance, criteria related to energy efciency and
social acceptability of the project, cost analysis and life cycle analysis are increasingly integrated into projects on Design Engineering. In their internship reports, students can also be invited to
reect on SD in relation to their future professional practice or
experience in their internship workplace.
Courses bringing together students from various elds of study
can also enable them to compare their points of view to those of
their colleagues and to widen their perspective. Those who did
experiments with this approach conclude that it contributes to
reinforce professional identity in students since they have to
emphasize their eld of expertise to their colleagues (Stubbs and
Schaper, 2011; Hegarty et al., 2011).
An example is the environmental management course at Uni
de Sherbrooke, in which debates on sustainability issues
versite
such as oil exploitation are conducted. The students are required to
invest time in researching the topic and then divided to either
represent or oppose the idea and encouraged to indulge in discussions and debates.

http://www.usherbrooke.ca/paeic/.

921

3.1.5. Using non-intentional learning and managing the class in SD

perspective
Another way to integrate SD into higher education is to use nonintentional learning. Also called hidden curriculum, nonintentional learning is used in a context that enables knowledge
acquisition but without being explicitly targeted as such. This
strategy seems particularly interesting in courses where teachers
may not necessarily see a direct link between SD and their eld of
study (Barlett and Rappaport, 2009). For instance, in a translation
or reading comprehension course, texts or works to be translated or
studied can be chosen in relation to SD topics.
Non-intentional learning tends to be approached in a much
wider perspective. It refers to all the messages passed on from a
teacher or institution to their students, often in an unconscious,
tacit or unplanned manner (Cotton and Winter, 2010). According to
Orr (quoted in Jucker, 2002), the institutional framework as a
whole, the studying environment as well as the daily management
operations of an institution also form an integral part of nonintentional learning. By extension, the way teachers manage their
class can also be included in the non-intentional learning available
to students and can represent a rst step in the integration of SD
within the course. For example, several teachers choose to offer
their course in a paperless version, with technological support from
Internet platforms (e.g. Moodle) or specialized correction software
for their classes.
3.2. Strategy results: integration of sd at the curriculum level

gep de Ganby-HauteIn addition to the tourism program at Ce
Yamsaka, there is an on-going project to integrate SD tools according to the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach in the under
de
graduate Civil Engineering curriculum at the Universite
Sherbrooke. As opposed to introduction of a new course, sustainable development topics related to the course were introduced at
different stages of the curriculum including senior design projects
using course modules catered to the specic course, so that these
concepts are considered part of the course by students and not
additional material. In addition an LCA model was also developed
specically for teaching LCA. The modules are modied and now
slowly being used in other departments at the university as well.
The LCA tool is also being adopted and explored by other departments on campus to implement it in their teaching. Without
going into too much detail for each of these initiatives, it should be
pointed out that their main commonalities are the angle from
which the question of training future professionals is addressed,
and the skills related to SD that can be developed at various stages
throughout students' progression in the curriculum. At the program level, SD can be more efciently integrated and transposed to
a professional context, thus building stronger links with the future
professional practice.
3.3. Strategy results: integration of sd at the institutional level
Following are examples from PACTE 2D members of implementation of institutional level integration strategies adopted.
3.3.1. Encouragement via grants

gep de Victoriaville aims to offer students the opportunity to
Ce
steer their project reports (required for successful program
completion) or end of semester projects towards SD themes, with
links to local resources and expertise. Therefore, the City of Victoriaville and the college foundation awarded grants to student
projects dealing with SD; the college also acknowledges SD projects
as part of its annual exhibition Expo SAT (Science Arts & Technology).

922

C.K. Anand et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 108 (2015) 916e923

3.3.2. Integration via institutional policies

Champlain Regional College adopted a SD policy. Its Lennoxville
campus chose to encourage the Brundtland Green Institutions
approach, which is based on four reference values: ecology, pacism, solidarity and democracy. Activities to mobilize and raise
awareness to the population will continue and a teaching staff
survey will be conducted to identify academic activities that integrate SD.
3.3.3. Campaigns
For its part, Bishop's University led a vast reection
campaign on liberal education, an issue at the heart of this
university's mission. Among the skills that need to be developed
throughout the curriculums and programs, one is related to SD,
i.e. Knowledge of Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability. A coherent modication of the recurrent program
assessment will follow as a part of the SD policy at Bishop's
University.
3.3.4. Policies and action plans

de Sherbrooke, the integration of SD to the
At the Universite
institution's teaching and research mission is featured in its
2010e2015 Strategic Plan as well as in the related policy and action
plan. These guidelines led to the consideration of a new concern
related to the integration of SD into higher education as part of the
recurrent program assessment. Furthermore, another guideline

de Sherbrooke aims to simplify, open up
adopted by the Universite
and develop the synergy between teaching, research and community relations (Strategic Plan R

eussir 2010e2015). As far as SD is

de Sherbrooke reaches for a synergy
concerned, the Universite
between teaching, research, management and relations with the
community so as to gradually transform the campus into a SD
laboratory.
3.4. Preliminary evaluations
In the fall 2013, PACTE 2D conducted a student survey among
partner organizations to assess their interest and expectations in
the elds of SD and education. Students were invited to express
their views on SD, their behavior in that eld, as well as their
interest towards topics related to SDE and pedagogical approaches.
The survey participation rate was 14.7% and the results from the
survey still need to be closely analyzed, but the initial analysis
already draws new avenues of reection and action in order to
integrate SD into curriculum. For instance, students were questioned on their idea of SD and on their opinion about it. While
only one-fth identify SD with environmental protection, the
three-fth of the students have a more complex conception of
sustainability integrating the social, environmental and economic
issues. More than three-quarters of students consider SD as an
opportunity for brand new alternatives and solutions to actual
crisis, or as a means of revisiting our ways of living. They thus
seems to have a broadly positive opinion of SD. According to their
answers concerning their interest to deal with new approaches
related to SD within their training, students seem more preoccupied by everyday life issues, by social issues such as health and
quality of life, or by human development issues rather than cultural diversity issues for example. In case of pedagogical approaches, the ones involving actual concrete issues were given the
student's preference. They are more interested by eld trips, by
project-based learning in a real context. An analysis both by
discipline and by program will guide program teams and teachers
more accurately.

4. Conclusions
This paper presents an approach for integration of SD in education and its implementation via regional collaboration. It addresses the recurring question of pedagogical approaches for SD via
collaborating to form support groups of educators, with similar
focus to integrate SD along the curriculum as well as the institution
(at a regional level). The proposed approach is applied by the
member institutions and examples of their integration are also
presented as resources for any one that wishes to integrate SD
concepts in higher education. In the next phase of the project, the
focus is to evaluate the strengths and weakness of the approaches
applied in different member institutions, analysis of change in level
of integration before and after the collaboration, analysis of useful
synergies created by collaboration of people with similar goals, and
also evaluation of student knowledge base via education and
application opportunities during their educational experience. All
these evaluations are essential in improvising the process of student education of SD.
Considering SD as a new way to see the world and take action, it
seems that the integration of SD into higher education requires a
profound cultural change more than a technical shift. Therefore, the
approach should not only be to target the content but also the
pedagogy and the sometimes compartmented disciplinary structure of our institutions. The SD issues represent an opportunity for
our higher education institutions to develop an institutional culture
where teaching, research and institutional management activities
become mutually reinforcing and create stronger links with the
community.
Acknowledgments
This article was written as part of PACTE 2D (Partenariat,


Apprentissage, Collaboration et Transfert en Education
au
D

eveloppement Durable, standing for: Partnership, Learning,
Collaboration and Transfer in Sustainable Development Education),
a project funded by the University-College Collaboration Program
of Quebec's Minist
ere de l

education, du Loisir et du Sport. We thank
to all the people involved in this project within the seven partner

geps (colleges) of
institutions involved in this project, i.e. the Ce
Drummondville, Granby-Haute-Yamaska, Sherbrooke and Victoriaville, Champlain Regional College (Lennoxville campus) as well as

de Sherbrooke. We also
Bishop's University and the Universite
thank them for their contributions to the book chapter e Sustainable Development Integration Strategies in Higher Education:
Case Study of Two Universities and Five Colleges in Quebec. related
to this regional initiative.
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