Sustainable Curriculum

Our university Education Strategy and our Framework for Environmental and Social Responsibility commit to promoting environmental and social sustainability through our portfolio, our actions and student opportunities. Delivery of a Sustainable Curriculum is taken forward as a key principle within our Climate Plan, approved by the University Council in November 2021.

In the context of education, sustainability means creating value for society by taking responsibility for our economic, cultural, social and environmental impacts, whilst drawing on the diverse expertise of our students, staff and partners to collaborate in finding sustainable solutions to global challenges. We adopt frameworks for Education for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to inform our approach.

Our aim is to give all students the opportunity to engage in sustainability through their course, community, now and into the future. This is achieved through a comprehensive and multifaceted approach taken forward by our university community. This extends across four core areas:

Embedding in the curriculum

• Equipping students with sustainability knowledge and skills aligned to their subject discipline, achieved through programme design, enhancement and review. Sustainability education is included in our Leeds Curriculum Framework.
• The provision of specialist sustainability programmes e.g. our BSc Sustainability and Environmental Management and our MSc Climate Change: Science, Society and Policy.
• Enhancing sustainability learning opportunities through our Discovery and SOUL elective modules and self-led learning.
• Increasing support for student-led sustainability research through our Leeds Living Lab programme, Library resources and showcasing student research talent at our annual Student Sustainability Research Conference.

Extending student sustainability opportunities

• Creating opportunities for inter and transdisciplinary learning including Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) partnership projects.
• Extending our extra and co-curricular student sustainability opportunities including volunteering, paid student roles and increasing work-based learning and employer engagement opportunities linked to the sustainability sector and sustainability employment roles.
• Supporting students to make a positive contribution to local communities and take forward projects alongside city partners including Positive Impact Partners and the sustainability strand of our Students into Schools programme.
• Ensuring sustainability skills are a visible thread within our Leeds Skills Matrix and associated resources.

Nurturing a community of sustainability educators

• Embedding sustainability education within core academic professional development programmes and growing our Leeds University Network for Sustainability in Higher Education (LUNSHE).
• Catalysing sustainability education pedagogical research.

Demonstrating leadership and contributing to commitments

• Our Sustainable Curriculum approach contributes to our university’s performance within higher education league tables. It was recognised as a positive example of ‘Partnership for the Goals’ within the 2025 UN SDG Accord Report.
• Demonstrating our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the SDG Accord.

By providing our students with the knowledge and skills they need to have a positive impact in the world, our sustainable curriculum will enable them to contribute solutions in local and global communities in an equitable and just way.

Access and Student Success

Our commitment to the SDGs includes addressing inequalities in accessing, progressing through and beyond higher education. Our Access & Student Success Strategy outlines our approach including funding support for eligible students,  support available to mature and part-time learners from our Lifelong Learning Centre and guidance for Refugee and Asylum seekers.

Governance and reporting

The Sustainable Curriculum programme is a principle of our University’s Climate Plan reporting to our Climate Principles Board and our Sustainability Steering Group for our Framework for Environmental and Social Responsibility. Professor Wendy Robinson, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Student Education and Experience, is the University Executive Group Sponsor for the Sustainable Curriculum principle.

An annual review of progress on our Climate Plan, including our sustainable curriculum, is reported on by the Priestley International Centre for Climate.