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Communicating Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Evaluation of Education Experiences and Proposals for Teachers’ Orientation

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The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development

Abstract

Sustainable development is an issue of special saliency within international political agendas. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a sign of the concern raised by this topic at the international level (Sachs, 2015). These goals are part of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and seek to create a committed society that advocates for social welfare. Along these lines, communicating sustainable development in education, especially in higher education, plays a key role in educating for sustainability, since it must form a global citizenship that defends a more equitable, fair and supportive world (Vesterinen, Tolppanen, & Aksela, 2016). The aim of this study is to identify trends in academic research dealing with sustainable development in higher education over the last five years. Its main purpose is exploratory, backed up with qualitative data analysis software. Sixty-nine articles retrieved from the main global scientific databases (Google Scholar, Scopus, Proquest and Web of Science) were identified and analysed. The findings present a wide selection of academic research that addresses higher education in the area of sustainable development, becoming a valuable repository of good educational practices. There is also a greater commitment to the objectives of sustainable development. The systematic study of these educational experiences makes it possible to identify the main trends in the use of Information and Communication Technologies in the university landscape, as well as avenues for critical reflection on the role that the mass and social media should play in raising up citizens’ awareness regarding environmental matters. The critical evaluation of these experiences makes it possible to draw up recommendations to guide teachers in future educational projects.

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Correspondence to Noelia Santamaría-Cárdaba .

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Santamaría-Cárdaba, N., Vicente-Mariño, M. (2021). Communicating Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Evaluation of Education Experiences and Proposals for Teachers’ Orientation. In: Yusha’u, M.J., Servaes, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69770-9_9

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