Building capacity in higher education: staff perceptions on education for sustainability

This study aims to provide insights into what staff perceive as required to effectively embed sustainability and climate action in Higher Education Institutions (HEI), focusing on top-down, middle-out and bottom-up strategies. Using a participatory approach through a convergent parallel mixed methods design, focus group interviews (FGI) and a survey questionnaire were undertaken at an HEI in the UK. Almost 90% of the study participants agreed that they would like to learn more about climate change mitigation and adaptation at university. Most respondents agreed that universities should organise extra-curricular activities to build capacity in sustainability and climate change mitigation, and adaptation. The study contributes to the understanding of staff views and needs around embedding sustainability in curricular and extra-curricular content, as well as training and development. The findings informed the design of the institutional staff development toolkits on Education for Sustainability (EfS) and climate literacy pedagogy.