Implementation of ESD

ESD is the abbreviation for Education for Sustainable Development. It refers to education that enables people to think and act in a sustainable way. It enables each individual to understand the impact of their own actions on the world.

Federal Ministry of Education and Research, retrieved 26 January 2024. (Translation by the author)

In 2015, the United Nations defined ESD as an independent field of action for the first time with sub-goal 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals. By 2030, the aim is to ensure "that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for sustainable development, including through education for sustainable development" (retrieved 28 April 2026, translation by the author, source text can be found here Federal Ministry of Education and Research). For higher education, ESD means "understanding sustainability in all its facets and recognizing and assessing the challenges of sustainable development in order to be able to act responsibly and in a future-oriented manner in one's living and working environment." (translation by the author, source text can be found here DG HochN guidelines, p. 19, English version not identical to the German version) This opens up new perspectives on research topics in the disciplines and provides impetus for the methodological development of teaching (cf. DG HochN guidelines, p. 19, English version not identical with the German version).

Universities have a special responsibility to support education for sustainable development and research on topics relevant to the future, as they train experts who are important multipliers in society. “If education for sustainable development can be successfully taught as a cross-cutting topic in teaching, it can be a powerful lever for social change”(retrieved 28 April 2026, translation by the author, source text can be found here Federal Ministry of Education and Research).

The 17 departments at TU Dortmund University offer 79 Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and cultural studies (cf. Zahlen, Daten, Fakten 2024, S. 5, in German). Some of these degree programs deal explicitly with sustainability issues. For example, there are courses on sustainable spatial development, resource-efficient construction, energy efficiency, electric mobility and participation, inclusion and diversity. A total of 7754 courses took place in summer semester 2025 and winter semester 2025/2026. Of these, 393 courses dealt explicitly with sustainability or sustainable development. This means that the proportion of courses on sustainability topics at TU Dortmund University was approx. 5%.* When determining the sustainability proportion, no distinction was made based on the ESD integration levels. The HochN guide “Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education” (cf. HochN Teaching Guide 2020, p. 50 ff., in German) distinguishes three integration levels for classifying courses according to their degree of sustainability focus:

• Level A: Sustainability as a supplementary topic within a subject-specific context; focus on knowledge transfer.
• Level B: Sustainability as a central theme; subject-specific content is critically examined in light of social, environmental, and economic aspects.
• Level C: Sustainability as an overarching principle; the teaching-learning process fosters design competencies and transdisciplinary collaboration.

These levels are not intended for evaluation, but rather serve as a framework for systematically analyzing and further developing course offerings—for example, when designing new modules for the studium oecologicum or in workshop formats with instructors to integrate sustainability into their courses.

*The total number of courses was determined in LSF in the "Students" role according to course type and semester. Certain course types such as "exams" or "school internship" were not counted. The following were counted as sustainable courses:

1. All courses from the studium oecologicum in SuSe 25 (40) and WiSe 25/26 (46) [For the graph, the courses were shown by area and therefore counted twice in some cases: SuSe 25: (42) and WiSe 25/26 (49), see graph below].

2. Courses in LSF were searched for keywords: SuSe 25 (134) and WiSe 25/26 (173) (Courses from the studium oecologicum modules have already been deducted. For a list of keywords, see the chapter Reporting Architecture).

As an interdisciplinary basic module of the studium oecologicum, the public lecture series “Klima: Wandel, Werte, Wissenschaft” is offered every winter semester, featuring presentations by both internal and external researchers. The Summer School for Sustainability was developed through a collaboration between student volunteers, faculty members from the fields of clinical and biological psychology, the Spatial Modelling Lab, and the Sustainability Office. It was offered for the first time in the summer semester of 2024 and was awarded with the TU’s Teaching Award. It is an English-language basic module for the certificate program and aims to integrate sustainability awareness into the participants’ perspectives on their daily and professional lives. The second Summer School for Sustainability was held in 2025 as a collaboration of the Ruhr University Alliance (UA Ruhr). There will be no summer school in 2026, but efforts are underway to once again offer an English-language basic module in the future, thereby enabling students to complete the studium oecologicum in English. As part of UA Ruhr, the coordinators are working together to further develop the certificates and open courses to students from partner universities.

Interactive Graphic. Source: Sustainability Office/TU Dortmund University

Teacher training at TU Dortmund University plays an important role in the implementation of ESD in the sense of training social multipliers. TU Dortmund University is one of the largest teacher training locations in North Rhine-Westphalia and offers a wide range of courses. In winter semester of 24/25, 7358 students (in German: Zahlen, Daten, Fakten 2024, p. 25) were enrolled in teacher education programs, representing nearly 25% of the total student body of 29693 (in German: Zahlen, Daten, Fakten 2024, S. 16). The Dortmund Competence Center for Teacher Education & Research (DoKoLL) (in German) has already implemented ESD in some of the preliminary and accompanying seminars of the practical semester and ESD is also already a topic in individual courses. A working group on ESD was formed from the DoKoLL Standing Committee, which organized the 2025 conference “Anchoring ESD in Teacher Education” to facilitate university-wide dialogue. A plan is currently being developed for, among other things, the comprehensive implementation of ESD in teacher education programs.

TU Dortmund University has acquired a campus license for the simulation game sustain2030 to provide an initial introduction to the topic and a low-threshold implementation of ESD in various existing teaching formats. In the simulation game, participants learn about the interdependencies between the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and gain an insight into complex decision-making systems in a fun way. The simulation game is made available to all lecturers at TU Dortmund University after an introduction by the Sustainability Office. It is also available in English for international events.

Interactive Graphic. Source: Sustainability Office/TU Dortmund University