Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching | Instigates a positive impact and transformation on society

The curriculum will enable USW graduates to be literate in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, possess intercultural and decolonial competence, explore and engage with Welsh culture(s) and make a positive, transformational impact on communities.

NB: The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States.

In embedding this principle, USW course teams reflect on questions such as:

How does the course enable learners to explore and reflect on their own values and journey within the discipline and society?
What opportunities do learners have to engage purposefully with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and contribute to making a positive impact on society?
What opportunities do learners have to develop explore and engage with Welsh culture(s)?

A student undertaking fieldwork experience in the Azores.

A student altering a garment on a mannequin at the USW Graduate Fashion Week 2019.

An aerial view of the students union pod at the newport campus which sells USW hoodies, bags and other student essentials.

Where this principle is fully embedded, these reflections will evidence a curriculum:

Which has been scaffolded to explicitly support students’ development of personal; societal; environmental and economic well-being; thinking; and practices, as appropriate, in line with the ambitions of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Where learner’s own values are explored from the outset of the course and scaffolded throughout each level, with increasing challenge and critical thinking, both within the discipline and with other disciplines, industry, and the wider community.
Which are explicitly designed to demand consideration of ethics, social justice, equity and sustainability with opportunities to offer ideas for alternative futures that have a positive societal impact (locally, regionally, nationally and globally).
Which have explicit, and scaffolded, opportunities across the course for learners to explore, engage with and contribute to Welsh culture(s) and practise intercultural and decolonial competence in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Which have frequent opportunities to present findings to stakeholders outside of the Institution.

Watch this video to find out more (6m 16s) NB: The videos below were recorded in 2021. Since when, the participants have since moved into different roles at USW.

A wheel with different headings relating to the curriculum design principles. Sustainability is highlighted in green.

A Short Guide, with a Checklist

To help you implement the 'Instigates a Positive, Sustainable Impact and Transformation on Society' USW Curriculum Design Principle, we have produced a short guide providing you with its role in curriculum design and assessment; the USW context which applies to it; information about literature supporting this principle; links to further reading; and a checklist to help you identify how well the principle is embedded in your modules.

Download our guide to 'Instigates a Positive, Sustainable Impact and Transformation on Society'

For further reading, literature informing our thinking around curricula for sustainability and a positive impact and transformation on society includes, but is not limited to:

Tilbury, D., 2011. Higher education for sustainability: a global overview of commitment and progress. Higher education in the world, 4(1), pp.18-28.