Critical review of implementation of sustainability in higher education

Abstract

Sustainability is a widely used term in titles and descriptions of courses in higher education within design and product development. There is a general agreement in the society about the importance of sustainability, and this priority should therefore be expected to be reflected in the curriculum. Based on literature review aim this study to give a critical review of implementation of sustainability in higher education. The theoretical framework for findings and analysis is based on the Integrated Design and Delivery Solution framework. When sustainability was included in the curriculum, thiswas mainly related to general attitudes with focus on the environmental aspects and collaboration in the design process. The results indicate that use quantitative methods based on standards was in general absent. Implementation of sustainability in higher education, both in number of courses, and in use of professional method is far behind the need in the industry and the society. A systematic of implementation can contribute to turn sustainability assessment from feelings to facts.