Sustainable Education

Visit this page to see how we are responding to the goals described in our Programme for Sustainable Development in our educational offer. At the bottom of the page, you can find our website’s latest news and articles on how sustainable development themes manifest themselves in our education, for example in students’ various working life projects. The pedagogical operating model of Learning by Developing (LbD) is the one we follow also when integrating sustainable development into education in close cooperation with working life. 

Laurea’s goals for Sustainable education during strategy period 2021-2024: 

• Competence related to responsibility, which has been defined as a general working life skill common to all degree programmes, is developed systematically across all degree programmes.
• We support student entrepreneurship focusing on sustainable development solutions.
• In all our education activities, we ensure that equality and accessibility are realized in higher education.
• RDI projects with sustainable development themes are integrated into teaching using the pedagogical method of Learning by Developing (LbD).
• 3UAS cooperation related to the themes of sustainable development and circular economy associated with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals brings added value to Laurea’s educational offering.
• Individual study units and broader competence modules related to sustainable development themes are offered in different implementation forms of continuous learning.
• Our students’ theses extensively promote the attainment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
• The Circular Economy Living Lab serves as a collaborative platform, a learning and development environment and a showcase of Laurea’s activities and results on the campuses and online.

Responsibility competence is part of the strategic development of education

The efforts to develop Laurea's education programmes are underpinned by the general workplace competences in Laurea’s degree programmes defined and described in our Strategy. One of our six competence modules is responsibility competence which, in our opinion, includes ethics and empathy, equality and fairness, as well as the ecological, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. In addition to our Programme for Sustainable Development and our Strategy, our work is supported by our Accessibility and equality plan for students updated at the beginning of 2021 and the measures described in it.

Sustainable development education programmes and study units

A Master's degree programme in sustainable growth management began at Laurea in autumn 2020. This programme focuses on sustainable development, sustainable growth and the circular economy. During the studies, a new paradigm of sustainable growth is created through practical activities. In this study unit, growth is examined from the perspectives of individuals, companies and society alike. Maria Ekström's article ‘Building a more sustainable business realm through education’, which describes the development of this programme, is available on Theseus.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) listed above are a globally known framework for promoting sustainable development and also play a large role in Laurea's education activities.

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