The Strategy for Education, approved just before summer, builds on the university’s strategic platform. It deepens the prioritised areas highlighted in the platform and makes it more specific for education. The strategy is operationalised through the Education Board’s annual plans and is available in English and Swedish. Below, I provide a summary focusing on the parts that concern sustainability specifically.
The platform has three overarching themes – sustainability, innovation, and digitalisation – and sustainability is highlighted throughout the education strategy as well. The education strategy highlights five core values:
- Academic freedom
- Democracy
- Training
- Equal opportunities
- Sustainability
All five core values could be seen as important in achieving a sustainable future and a university that works for sustainability. Academic freedom has to do with protecting the core of academia and that no external force should dictate research or education. Democracy and equal opportunities are core values in any sustainable future and part of the Agenda 2030. “Training” – translated from “bildning” in the Swedish version with its equivalent “Bildung” in German, makes me think of sustainability competencies and what we mean by being competent. While we generally think of sustainability competencies as something that we can train – otherwise there would not be much point in writing about it – they also often lean towards something more innate as well – an inner quality that not only requires training but a degree of personal growth and maturing.
For sustainability specifically, the strategy states that:
“We integrate sustainability into our education, research and support activities in order to contribute to a sustainable future for later generations. Lund University is an attractive, secure and sustainable workplace in which the teaching staff are given the conditions to conduct excellent education and opportunities for professional development” (Strategy for Education: Lund University 2025-2027, p. 3).
It further argues that geopolitical uncertainties, climate change and other challenges mean that education, competence development and lifelong learning will be increasingly important. The Education Strategy builds on the strategic platform of the university (2025-2027), which, unsurprisingly then, has a similar message: “Students […] need to be able to navigate in a geopolitically complex world with major issues to deal with such as climate change. The extensive societal challenges and the uncertain future regarding the labour market’s needs require students not only to obtain specialised knowledge but also broad, generic knowledge that can be augmented as required” (Platform for Strategic Work: Lund University 2025-2027, p. 6). The Strategy for Education specifically mentions existential sustainability and that education can help build existential sustainability. Here, the strategy touches on a potential challenge and balancing act: while it is important that education at Lund University is flexible and can be adapted to society’s needs, it also needs to be robust and grounded in science. The strategy does not elaborate further on how to potentially negotiate between the extensive timeframes of science with the much more volatile and quickly changing societal and political landscape.
Looking at career paths, the strategy speaks of the importance of teaching as part of academic career progression and teaching staff is encouraged to pursue continuous professional development.
When it comes to direct impacts from education, the strategy highlights that intercultural aspects are important – both in terms of course content but also in terms of international experiences for both students and staff. Internationalisation is a common trade-off for higher education institutions as this often means airborne travels and increased emissions. However, the strategy emphasises opportunities for travel-free international experiences for instance through international course collaborations.
It will be interesting to follow the work by the Board of Education and how the strategy gets operationalised through its annual plans!
- Link to Strategy for Education (pdf, English): Strategy for Education 2025–2027
- Link to Platform for Strategic Work (pdf, English): Platform for Strategic Work 2025-2027
- Compilation of policy documents and guidelines on Staff Pages: Sustainable development in education | Staff Pages
