Education

The UG strives to integrate courses that are related to sustainability in all faculties. All the faculties and the majority of the programmes offer at least one course on sustainability. There are also Minors on Sustainability and Summer schools. You can find an overview below.

For the next years we have formulated the following goals:

• Expand the number of sustainable study options (course units, living labs).
• Train the trainers, establish a sustainable teaching course for lecturers.
• The Sustainability Sounding Board’s teaching and research group will start talks with faculties to explore how sustainability can be incorporated more into the curriculum without deviating from the content of the teaching programme.
• Within the new Schools, specific attention will be paid to sustainable teaching, including in the form of interdisciplinary Minors that are yet to be developed and that will be accessible to all UG students.
  

Do you want to know which projects the Green Office organizes to integrate sustainability in education? Look at our Project section.

Minors

Minor Energy

The minor energy is all about solving worldwide energy issues at hand, whether it’s about sustainability, availability or efficiency. In this minor students work interdisciplinary, which is very relevant when looking at the complexity of energy issues. Students will come to work on a real-life case study, in which they explore policy strategies for energy transition. In the next period, they will work on a research project focused on a specific energy challenge. After the minor, students will have learned about solving real life energy problems in an integrated way.

Future Planet Innovation

This minor teaches students about all the global challenges at hand that have to do with sustainability. Looking at the people, planet and profit part of sustainability issues, this minor is interdisciplinary and hands-on. The courses are very up to date and interactive. Whereas students learn about global challenges and relations in the first period, and they will apply the lessons learned in the second term, where they will work on a local case study related to different aspects of sustainability.

Religion in the modern world

The minor religion in the modern world teaches students about the pivotal role of religion in our society, culture and politics. Looking at sustainability, this minor is relevant in determining the available visions and resources across different theological, philosophical and spiritual traditions for understanding and responding to climate change. Especially the course ‘The End of the World As We Know It? Climate Change, End Times and Sustainable Futures’ explores this topic. At the end of the Minor students will be able to better understand one of the strongest driving forces in humanity and how these are relevant in the sustainability transition.

Minor Development studies

The Minor Development Studies is about how people around the world deal with contemporary issues such as climate change, population & migration questions, and about how social transformations can be embodied. Some of the electives in the minor that are focused on sustainability are Environment & Development, and Climate Change, End Times and Sustainable Futures. These courses for example explore causes of environmental problems at the local, national and international levels and investigate how to effectively respond to climate change and prepare for new social, political, economic, moral and environmental realities.

Summer schools

Local Initiatives for Sustainable Development

Besides the global issue of climate change, there are of course also pressing local problems that cities and communities all around the world face daily. This summer school discovers what actions have been taken to tackle such local issues. In this summer school, you will visit local initiatives around Groningen to get inspired but also to learn about the challenges they face. You will learn about the role of community stewards in such initiatives, particularly of local youth, and you will be given the tools to identify key social issues. This school is meant to motivate you to find meaningful ways to contribute to social change, and teaches you how you can!

Sustainable Landscapes - The Wadden Experience

This school will dive into the landscape development of the World Heritage Wadden Sea Region, a region that is very valuable to nature and society at the same time. In this school, participants are invited on a five day sailing trip with lectures from leading experts. These lectures will show scientific perspectives on the Wadden, from different points of view. Many themes will be explored; cultural heritage, coastal tourism, landscape stewardship, regional food production, sustainable entrepreneurship, and global bird flyways. While learning about the area, you can actually experience it yourself while you are sailing through the landscape!

Creating a climate for change

In the sustainability transition, education plays a very important role to get everyone on board in transformations. At this summer school, you will share and develop new and exciting ideas through participatory and interactive workshops, to implement in education. Through discussing our challenges regarding sustainability education in a multidisciplinary group, we will aim to critically analyze our experiences and share our best practices. Over four days, you will get to know the other participants and Groningen through a city tour, you will explore the educational challenges in the group, design solutions and discuss implementation plans. At the end of the school you will be motivated and inspired to take these new ideas to class!

Sustainable health

Sustainable health is concerned with preventive medicine and sustainable health systems, equitably distributed in populations, and in harmony with the planet we live in. It is essential in order to maintain and improve the health of the generations to come. For this summer school, an interactive online learning environment will be created to attend lectures and to participate in a number of varied online interactive activities. You will reflect on the complexity and interdependence of the many aspects of the current situation in healthcare, imagining a new, better normal to advocate for.

Designing sustainable landscapes within regional food systems

Food systems are affected greatly by climate change, and will be even more in the future. A redesign of the agricultural systems and resulting landscapes is therefore urgently needed. In this summer school, you will learn about sustainable practices within regional food systems, with the North of the Netherlands as a case study region. You will visit farms, go to landscape lectures and conduct interviews with various stakeholders (farmer organizations, advisors, food industry, retailers, local government, academia, etc.). This will be complemented with background literature and lectures by specialists from various disciplines. At the end of this summer school, you will have learned all about multifunctional agro-ecological landscapes and what is needed to ensure sustainable regional food systems.

Masters

Energy and climate law

The energy sector is changing as a result of market liberalization and climate change concerns. This specialized programme will present the main principles of energy market liberalization and how climate law affects the energy sector. It dives deeper into the context of the EU, while it includes courses such as Climate law, Energy Investment and Trade Law, and Energy contracting. After this master’s programme you will be an expert in the field of energy law and policy.

Climate adaptation governance (Track in MSc Cultural Geography)

This master dives deeper into the effects of climate change the world has to deal with, and into how these challenges should be governed in local contexts. It delves into relevant international frameworks, into culture and community-based adaptation, and into climate adaptive cities and planning. You will also learn about displacement and uncertainty, explore heritage protection, and study bottom-up initiatives. At the same time, you learn about cultural geography and how this is important to ensure climate-proof governmental and societal transitions.

Sustainability and Environmental Psychology

This double degree master addresses social, economic, and environmental issues in the transition towards sustainability and focuses on psychological processes such as problem-solving, decision-making, self-regulation, social identification, attitude change, or conflict resolution and their impacts on present and future generations’ quality of life. The programme, exceptional in Europe and beyond, is offered by Leuphana University, University of Groningenboth leading in the field of environmental psychology. The first year will take place at Leuphana University, and you spend the second year at the University of Groningen.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship

The global economy is undergoing a transformation towards a sustainable society in which the interests of people, planet and profits together are the driving force, rather than neoclassical industrial economic systems. This transformation needs academic professionals who can demonstrate that sustainable entrepreneurship is key. If you are interested in developing a new perspective, circular business models, learning from real entrepreneurs, developing your leadership and management skills and academic knowledge about sustainability, this programme is for you!

Supply chain management

In the sustainability transition, sustainable, innovative, reliable and efficient supply chain management is very influential. In this master programme, you will gain the necessary managerial and analytical skills to focus on the design, integration and coordination of supply chains at multiple levels. It teaches you to bring innovative and sustainable solutions to this fast-paced business environment. In this master programme, you can choose electives that can be very much focused on sustainability, such as sustainable Energy Supply, Energy Transition and Innovation, Global Supply Chain Management and Sustainability.