Syllabus for Actors and Strategies for Change: Towards Global Sustainabilities

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should:

• have an up-to-date, interdisciplinary understanding of the issues of sustainable development;
• give an account of, and be able to evaluate, the strategies, room to maneuver and limitations of different societal actors in striving toward a sustainable society;
• be able to discuss individual/actors perspectives compared to structural/system perspectives on cultural change;
• have reflected on his/her own role in the causes and solutions of issues of sustainable development.

Content

With a growing number of unsustainable environmental and social trends, how can different actors work for sustainable alternatives? To achieve a more vibrant, participatory and sustainable development there is a need for great changes, both on the structural and individual level. Who has the capacity and possibility to make these changes and what strategies are most efficient? In this course different actors - civil society, corporations, governments, the education sector and the international community - and their strategies for change - on global, regional, national and local levels - are analysed and scrutinised.

Instruction

The course is interdisciplinary and consists of a lecture series where guest lecturers from different academic backgrounds and sectors of the society give their perspectives on strategies for change. The lectures are complemented by seminars where the students reflect in smaller groups. All sessions are scheduled in the evening time.

Assessment

Students are examined through written preparation and active participation in seminars and workshops (3 credits) and trough presentation and documentation of group projects (4.5 credits).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.

Other directives

The language of instruction is English.