Employable and sustainable change-makers through Education for Sustainable Development

Universities have been identified as one of the relevant actors to deliver on the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This reflects the urgency to embed the principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into all levels of education (Cebrián et al., 2021). SDG 4 within target 4.7 explicitly highlights ESD to cultivate global citizens as change agents towards more sustainable societies, embracing human rights, sustainable consumption, gender equality and cultural diversity amongst others (Corres et al. 2020). Universities play a critical role in tackling the challenges of embedding ESD (Sánchez-Carracedo et al., 2023). There has been different levels of engagement and effort made to commit, integrate, and implement ESD into policies, institutions, and curricula to achieve the SDGs (Lozano, 2013), which directly contribute to staff buy-in and training, promoting students to be agents of change or having any real systematic effect (UNESCO 2017; Tejedor 2019). As outlined by Sterling (2021) it needs an institutional approach, rather than a mere accommodation, reform but must strive for transformation. To support this transformative approach and institutional buy-in to embed ESD across the UK sector, Advance Higher Education and Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) (2021) launched a report on ESD Guidance to support embedding ESD in the curricula. The second QAA (2023) report offers specific examples, adaptable templates and advice on how this agenda can be reflected in academic quality processes.
In 2021, the Queen’s University Belfast BSc Food Quality, Safety and Nutrition programme was reviewed. This review highlighted the pressing challenges related to both employability and sustainability faced by the agri-food sector (Kendall, 2021). Employability can be hindered by a mismatch between the skills and key competencies possessed by graduates and the demands of the evolving sector. As a result, the programme was redesigned to introduce BIO1311 Sustainable Food Systems, a new core 12-week module for first-year students (QCF Level 4) centred around the sustainability challenges facing the agri-food industry, aiming to provide future graduates with the knowledge and tools to tackle and promote a more sustainable agri-food future that embraces sustainable practice such as addressing environmental impacts, ensuring ethical sourcing, and meeting consumer demand for responsibly produced food.