Towards a sustainable future – education across disciplinary boundaries
Our well-being depends on natural ecosystems, but our actions cause serious harm including climate change and the loss of biodiversity. We need more experts who can foster sustainable development in all fields. JYU.Wisdom offers sustainability-related education programs and courses, and will later also offer staff training, to help develop this expertise and apply it in our work.
The goals of sustainable development can be achieved only if we know what it requires from us and we are motivated to work together for these goals. The studies of sustainable development help us perceive, from the perspective of various study subjects, the functioning and interaction relationships of nature, economy and society.
The learning options range from self-study online courses (open for all) to a unique, multidisciplinary 25-credit study module. JYU is also a part of the Climate University and Sustainability Studies Network, through which even more courses are available.
Planetary well-being courses: these four MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) offer a comprehensive understanding of the state of the world and introduce the concept of planetary well-being (PW): what it means, why it is needed, and how to move towards it. You will learn about natural and social systems and their relations to sustainability, cultural perceptions and conceptions of a good life and how they affect the realisation of planetary well-being, and means of promoting the sustainability transition.
Nature Under Threat courses: these two courses give insight into how and why species and ecosystems are increasingly becoming threatened, how threat status is assessed, and what are the causes behind the ongoing biodiversity loss.
Find the Nature Under Threat courses
To see more courses in Finnish, switch to the Finnish webpage via the main menu.
This new module introduces students to the needs, barriers and opportunities of sustainability transitions from a multidisciplinary perspective. The multidisciplinary approach makes the module one-of-a-kind. Combining expertise from different disciplines is the key to understanding and managing sustainability transitions.
A particular focus will be on enhancing students' interdisciplinary understanding of the challenges and solutions to sustainability transitions: the courses will define sustainability transitions as complex processes that require multi-level approaches combining expertise from different disciplines in order to understand and manage them.
The 25-credit basic studies module is open for all JYU students.
Cooperation is at heart of sustainability thinking, and Finnish universities are doing great work on sharing their sustainability education. Climate University and the Sustainability Studies Network offer many opportunities for students to improve their sustainability skills. JYU.Wisdom coordinates the participation of JYU in these networks. The courses of he sustainability studies network are open for all degree, doctoral and exchange students of the member higher education institutions. A student has an opportunity to broaden their knowledge on environmental and sustainability themes by studying courses through the network.
Check out what the networks can offer:
