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Designing a distance learning sustainability bachelor’s degree

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Abstract

This article reports on the curriculum design of a distance learning sustainability bachelor’s degree in order to broaden the coverage and increase the quality of education for sustainable development in Mexican higher education. The goal of this case study was to describe the useful of the competence-based curriculum design to increase the actual stock of knowledge toward achieving curriculum greening. This bachelor’s degree has been designed with the primary purpose of boosting the supply of educational services in the country in order to not only meet the rights of all Mexicans citizens to obtain a higher education, but also to confront the sustainability challenges within the UNESCO key campaigns such as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, Education for all and the Millennium Development Goals (EAMG). Having as the organizing principle the competency-based framework, the sustainability bachelor’s degree project was carried out using the focus group research technique for collecting data. The concept of competence has played a key role in defining the outcomes of this curriculum; yet, there are a number of ongoing issues that are significant enough in order to address the challenges imposed by this decade that have not been included because it is impossible to cover all aspects of sustainable development. Hopefully, the sustainability graduate students will have the competences for being the most effective agent of change to foster sustainability in organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Engineering Department, University of Sonora, Rio Fuerte # 195 Residencial Pima, CP 83000, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

    Luis Eduardo Velazquez Contreras & Nora Elba Munguia Vega

  2. Work Environment Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

    Luis Eduardo Velazquez Contreras

  3. Virtual University System, Juarez University of the State of Durango, Durango, Mexico

    Alma Gabriela Herrera Pulgarin

  4. Social Research Institute, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, San Nicolás de Los Garza, Mexico

    Esteban Picazzo Palencia

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  1. Luis Eduardo Velazquez Contreras
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  2. Nora Elba Munguia Vega
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  3. Alma Gabriela Herrera Pulgarin
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  4. Esteban Picazzo Palencia
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Correspondence to Luis Eduardo Velazquez Contreras.

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Contreras, L.E.V., Vega, N.E.M., Pulgarin, A.G.H. et al. Designing a distance learning sustainability bachelor’s degree. Environ Dev Sustain 17, 365–377 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9622-5

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