| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 83.66 |
| Liaison | Philippe Lemarchand |
| Submission Date | Dec. 2, 2024 |
Technological University Dublin
AC-1: Sustainability Course Offerings
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
14.00 / 14.00 |
1.1 Percentage of academic departments with sustainability course offerings
Number of academic departments with at least one sustainability course offering:
Annotated list or inventory of the institution’s sustainability course offerings by department:
Description of the process used to identify the institution’s sustainability course offerings by department:
A sustainability language model to classify text among the 17 UN SDG and identify the sustainability level as Sustainability-Focused, Sustainability-Inclusive, and Non-Sustainable has been developped and patented. The model accuracy was tested and validated for short and long text, and compared to state-of-the-art models. The sustainability language model developped in >88% accurate across all SDGs for both long and short text, and represent a significant advancement of the sate-of-the-art which had an accuracy of only 88% for short text, and 76% for long text. While the results provided by the model have been manually validated by sustainability champions, the results are in the process of being further manually reviewed by document owners (e.g. module coordinator/owner, school and faculty leads, academic affairs; authors of research papers; communication officers managing a TU Dublin website section) with some guidance on what sustainability and SDG definitions and background knowledge. The model will evolve with user feedback while also educating users on sustainability aspect, providing a systematic and consolidated means to assess, review, and report sustainability.
All TU Dublin module/course descriptors including the module code, title, overview, learning outcomes, assessments, department owners/coordinators, and NFQ level were retrieved from our Programme and Module Catalogue (PMC). The sustainability level per SDG of each module was analysed using our validated sustainability language model. The analysis could then report on the sustainbility of modules/courses offered by each TU Dublin department.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following two figures:
Points earned for indicator AC 1.1:
1.2 Published sustainability course listings
Online location where the institution’s sustainability course listings are maintained:
Publication where the institution’s sustainability course listings are maintained:
Description of the process used to create and maintain the institution’s sustainability course listings:
Active modules are listed in our Programme Module Catalogue (PMC). The validated Sustainability Language Model (Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning tool) assess the sustainability level and SDG association of text (described in AC1.1) provided in our modules' descriptors.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
1.3 Support for academic staff to integrate sustainability into the curriculum
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the incentives provided for individual academic staff to integrate sustainability into the curriculum:
TU Dublin created the Sustainability Office with a VP of Sustainability (Jennifer Boyer). Incentives for academic staff to integrate sustainability in the curriculum are supported by the TU Dublin Strategic Intent (Ref1) and Strategic Plan' KPIs (Ref2).
The Sustainability Education team are five academic staff (Ref3) who have been seconded to the Sustainability team to support all academic staff as they integrate sustainability in the curriculum with TU Dublin being "recognised as the first Centre for Sustainability Across the Curriculum in Europe" (Ref4).
Staff who are integrating sustainability into the curriculum are supported by seed funding grants of €5,000 to implement projects. Eight of the projects listed on this webpage (Ref5) are sustainability focused, e.g. "Introducing Sustainability Development Goal problems in Maths Education"; "A case study on the effects of sustainability-oriented work placement on student mindset".
TU Dublin also provided funded Fellowships for staff to complete ESD projects: Ref6.
Staff who completed the Digital Badge in Education for Sustainability (Ref7) received “a bursary of €500 to implement sustainability-related innovative pedagogical approaches in their TLA (Teaching Learning & Assessment) practice.”
URL References:
Ref1: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/strategicintent/2030/
Ref2: https://www.tudublin.ie/media/website/explore/about-the-university/strategic-plan/documents/Strategic-Plan-2024-2028-FINAL.pdf
Ref3: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/sustainability/about/sustainability-team/sustainability-education/
Ref5: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/academic-affairs/digital-education/building-organisational-digital-capability/projects/
Ref6: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/academic-affairs/ntutorr/partners/fellowships/education-for-sustainability/
Ref7: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/sustainability/about/news-and-events/education-for-sustainability-digital-badge-2025.php
Does the institution host an ongoing multidisciplinary community of practice, sustainability across the curriculum training program, or equivalent support program for academic staff who are working to integrate sustainability into the curriculum?:
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview the institution’s sustainability-focused community of practice, sustainability across the curriculum training program, or equivalent support program:
TU Dublin Sustainability Office (Ref1) is composed of 4 functions "Sustainability Education", "Sustainability Intelligence", "Societal Engagement" and "Decarbonisation". The first two functions work with staff and students at identifying and integrating sustainability in the curriculum. Within TU Dublin Communities of Practice (Ref2) is the SDG Literacy Community of Practice (Ref3). TU Dublin is also a member of the European University of Technology (Ref4) which include the formation of a sustainability office including 9 university partners. The Eut+ sustainability office remit includes assessing and integrating sustainability in the curriculum.
URL References:
Ref1: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/sustainability/
Ref2: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/academic-affairs/lta/communities-of-practice/
Ref4: https://www.tudublin.ie/explore/about-the-university/european-university-of-technology/
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.