Page 32 - Sustainability Strategiy 2023 - 2030 | TU Dresden

Education

In TU Dresden’s teaching mission statement and university development plan, sustainability in
teaching is established as a holistic approach at TU Dresden and is to be structurally anchored and
promoted as part of the teaching strategy currently being developed. In line with the United Nations’
Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), the aspect of sustain-
ability in teaching is understood to be a cross-sectional task that is dealt with in subject-specific
modules and in interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning. The environmental relevance
of new courses of study is already being outlined when they are being set up. The Studium Oecologi-
cum certificate program affords students the option of acquiring skills that complement their normal
course of study. The Public Climate School, which takes place every semester, and the teaching
awards from the Association of Friends and Sponsors of TU Dresden (Gesellschaft von Freunden
und Förderern der TU Dresden, GFF) provide incentives for implementing ESD in teaching. The tea-
cher-training courses at TU Dresden in particular include mandatory ESD modules. In addition, inter-
disciplinary courses in environmental education and ESD, as well as service-learning opportunities in
the context of sustainability, are offered. The teaching opportunities are open to society at large in
cooperation with the climate schools, the Citizens’ University, and the Seniors’ Academy. Internatio-
nally, for example, joint teaching programs are being developed in the combined M.Sc. program on
Water Security and Global Change at the ABCD-Centre.

The courses and modules of Education for Sustainable Development currently implemented
at TU Dresden and their monitoring represent good practices for strategically anchoring,
internationally expanding, and structurally promoting sustainability in teaching in the future,
accompanied by appropriate quality management. The aim is to ensure a high quality of ESD
in the courses offered at TU Dresden by having appropriately trained teaching staff in order to
empower students to think critically and reflectively and to act responsibly with regard to
ecological sustainability.

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