Educating for Sustainability: Student Competencies, Educator Competencies, and the Transformative Potential of Service Learning
Sustainability Education Lecture Marco Rieckmann
In light of growing societal “polycrises” and recent institutional commitments to sustainability competencies, universities face the challenge of translating broad ambitions into meaningful teaching and learning practices. This lecture explores three interconnected dimensions of sustainability in higher education: key sustainability competencies of students, professional competencies of educators to foster transformative learning, and Service Learning as a concrete pedagogical approach to bridge university and society. Drawing on recent research, the talk outlines how sustainability competencies can be meaningfully integrated across diverse disciplines—from life sciences to law and social sciences. Practical examples will illustrate how universities can move from policy commitments to impactful educational practice.
Professor Marco Rieckmann serves as the Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He is also a Professor of Higher Education Development at the University of Vechta, Germany. His teaching and research focus on education for sustainable development, global learning, and the sustainable transformation of higher education institutions.
Prof. Rieckmann is visiting Utrecht University in the context of the IMP>ACT project, funded by the European Union.
After the lecture, attendees will be invited to discuss how their own educational activities could benefit from the insights given by the lecture of Marco Rieckmann, and to reflect on opportunities to integrate sustainability competencies in their own educational practice.
This is the first event organized by the (Pathways to) Sustainability Education community since the launch of the community’s new phase. At the closing of the event, core members of the community would like to take the opportunity to shortly present the new plans, and to invite attendees to reflect and give feedback on those plans.
The event will be followed by drinks.
Attending the event is free of charge, but please register your attendance through the link below.
Schedule:
- 13h30 : Arrival and coffee
- 14h00 : Welcome and short introduction
- 14h05 – 15h00 : Lecture Marco Rieckmann
- 15h00 – 15h10 : short break
- 15h10 – 15h40 : Embedding sustainability competences in your teaching practice
- 15h40 – 16h00 : Feedback from the audience on the 2026-2029 Sustainability Education community plans
- 16h00 – 17h00 : drinks
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Location
- Brenninkmeijerzaal at the Johanna Hudig Building (Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance), in the historical center of Utrecht
- Registration
Register for the lecture here