Environmental sustainability awareness and academic curriculum improvements: the case of a business and law faculty in an Australian university

This study investigates 181 undergraduate and 155 post graduate business and law units from five schools within an Australian University to see how they embed environmental sustainability into their existing curriculums. It also examines how environmental sustainability fits into the scaffolding of the main Bachelor of Commerce degree and how each school plays its part into the overall development of graduates’ understanding of environmental sustainability. In July and December 2011 all unit chairs in the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University were asked if and how environmental sustainability was included in their units.

Of the 336 unit chairs that completed the survey, 37% of those unit chairs replied positively and of the remainder, the vast majority of these believed environmental sustainability was not applicable to their unit. However, measuring the effectiveness of the introduction of environmental sustainability into the curriculum is extremely difficult and this is often done by student assessment methods. Only 7% of the units actually carried out any assessment of the students’ knowledge of environmental sustainability.

The findings across the faculty were mixed, with Post Graduate units and Management and Marketing courses being very strong in embedding environmental sustainability into their curriculum. The Bachelor of Commerce Degree students, especially those with Management or Marketing majors received a good grounding in environmental sustainability. 

These findings have implications for course and curriculum designers who are trying to effectively embed environmental sustainability into the scaffolding of their existing educational courses.