mission statement

The work of the UNESCO Chair „Higher Education for Sustainable Development“ focuses on the question in what way sustainable development may represent a guideline for university education and how this principle may be implemented into sustainability-related research activities.

Dealing with questions of education and studies in the context of sustainability is on top of the agenda, since academia has long neglected this domain for the benefit of research and transfer activities, and thus at the expense of a necessary and sound general education. 

Being confronted with problems arising from an non-sustainable development, we understand that those individual competencies are in great demand that lead to sustainable problem solutions and future organisation (concept of Gestaltungskompetenz). In addition, those competencies equal the requirements of the labour market (so-called key-competencies). Against this background, the UNCESCO Chair will intensively deal with questions of academic teaching and scientific learning.

Sustainability as a complex, integrative and normative guiding principle, characterised by ecological, economic, social, cultural and political dimensions, stands outside the traditional structures in scientific life. Thus, academic education is challenged by the necessity to initiate learning processes which are characterised by open operating processes with a wide perspective.

Matters and contents of a sustainable development have to be dealt with in a way that does not hide and negate the complexity, the interconnectedness or even the open directedness on the operating level but makes them comprehensible. Thus, the matter itself provides starting points for a self-directed and - at the same time - interconnected thinking and learning. Global processes have to be compiled and edited in such a way that they turn understandable in their complexity. In addition, interrelations between the local (operating) level and global activities need to become clear. Furthermore, intercultural learning plays an important role.  Next to the basic professional knowledge, the development of methodical and social competencies bear great importance during the time at university.

To integrate sustainable development in study and learning requires new learning cultures. The focus is directed on the process of knowledge acquisition, based on the constructivist premise that knowledge may not simply be transferred but is most efficiently generated and constructed in concrete situations and against the background of one’s own experiences.

Professional teachers are therefore asked to create adequate conditions and prerequisites to enable the student’s self-organisation and processes of self-acting knowledge deduction. In order to succeed, teachers themselves need to adopt new forms of  teaching and learning.

The following consequences arise from the request for a new and innovative learning culture:

• focus on early detection of problems and active search for innovative solutions
• complex problem approach
• meta-knowledge
• construction of knowledge from complex learning situations; application of this knowledge in new situation
• establishment of global references
• instructors create adequate conditions for thinking and learning processes.
• central role of inter- and transdisciplinarity

In this context, the UNESCO Chair „Higher education for sustainable development“ understands interdisciplinarity as a form of co-operative scientific teamwork, focused on a mutual problem, leading to a situation where all participating scientific disciplines provide their inherent problem-solving capabilities for the common objective.

 Transdisciplinarity implies the co-operation with partners outside university. These are involved right from the beginning into the scientific operating process, and they considerably contribute to the problem solution.

Specific fields of work 

Study Program Sustainability

Co-operation inside university

One major focus will be the introduction and establishment of a „study program sustainability“ at the University of Lüneburg. This program deals with sustainable development,  particularly considered under the perspective of justice. It is realised in co-operation with all faculties of the University and is integrated in the recently introduced course “General Studies”. It will be open to students of all fields of study with a special focus on multi-medial learning. In addition, the emphasis lies on international co-operation as well as on subject-related knowledge exchange with experts from different institutions. The transfer of this program to other universities is sought for.


New Media
In complementation to this study program, a new multi-medial learning environment shall be developed. This learning environment enables the students to use different possibilities to thematically analyse aspects of sustainability. This includes the utilisation of the internet/world wide web as global database. It includes furthermore a decentralised and conjoint completion of different subtasks in order to strengthen team work and student reflection. Communication among students is seen as an important element of the learning process.
The internet platform offers a learning environment that enables the student to work independently from space and time and from any other persons. In addition, this platform creates space for self-discovering learning.

Objectives of this program 
The following objectives will be in the focus of the study program:

• Theory concomitant complementation of the studies concerning questions of sustainability
• Interdisciplinary ways of work by problem- and practice related course programs and study forms
• Application of strategies and instruments in order to succeed in implementing sustainability in the context of a concrete project 
• Classification of local phenomena in global contexts
• Enhancement of communicative abilities and of operating competencies.
• Introduction and application of the scenario technique

Interdisciplinarity is achieved by the collaboration of teaching staff and students of all faculties represented at the University of Lüneburg. Transdisciplinarity is established by the co-operation with business representatives, protagonists of local/regional agenda processes and further practice representatives. The program is accompanied by an extensive teaching-learning-evaluation.