The document summarizes the pedagogical approaches of the Master's in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS) program at BTH. It discusses how the program was developed 10 years ago to integrate sustainability into engineering education. It now ranks as a top program in Europe for sustainability education. The MSLS program uses a framework for strategic sustainable development and builds leadership abilities through learning circles. It aims to create a collaborative learning environment among its diverse international students. Key aspects of its successful design include developing relationships between staff and students and empowering students to co-create their learning experience.

1. Pedagogical Approaches
within the MSLS Programme at
BTH
BTH staff,
June 2012

2. Sustainability Innovation Education
10 years ago:
 Integrating environmental aspects into
Mechanical Engineering
 Educated staff about sustainable development
 A mandatory basic course in sustainable
development was developed and give to all
students at Mechanical Engineering.
 Build-up research field “Sustainable Product
Innovation”

3. Recognition of our Sustainability Education
 Report published in May
2009
 Ranked BTH #1 in Sweden
and #3 in Europe for
engineering education for
Sustainable Development

4. Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards
Sustainabililty (MSLS)
"The question of reaching
sustainability is not about if
we will have enough
energy, enough food, or
other tangible resources -
those we have. The question
is: will there be enough
leaders in time?"
- Dr. Göran Broman and Dr. Karl-
Henrik Robèrt, programme
founders

5. Master’s in Sustainable Product-Service-
System Innovation (MSPI)
Innovation
Strategic
Sustainable
Development Innovation

6. Sustainability Distance Education
• Currently 3 Sustainability
Courses developed
• Excellent success rate,
especially with Master’s
level course
• For more information,
please see:
www.bth.se/sustainability

7. Industry Courses
 Aimed at the Professionals within one industry
 Mixture of distance education plus in-person workshops
 Run in collaboration with The Natural Step (International NGO)

8. Short, Professional Courses
 Now offering
customised short
courses (1-week, 2-
week)
 Topics surround the
basics of
Sustainability and
how your
organization can
contribute to
sustainable
development

9. Aspects of the MSLS programme
 Period structure
 2 themes
 Learning loops
 Role of the staff
 ”The invitation”

10. Programme Overview
Period 1 Period 2 Period 3/4:
(Circles 1-3) (Circle 4) (Circle 5)
Strategic Management
for Sustainability (STM)
Introduction to (7.5 credits)
Strategic Leadership
Towards Sustainability
Advanced Societal
(15 credits) Thesis Project
Leadership (ASL)
(30 credits)
(7.5 credits)
or:
Engineering for a
Sustainable Society
(ESS)
(7.5 credits)
--- Leadership Thread ---
Aug. Nov. Jan. 18, June 4,
2011 2011 2012 2012
Holiday Season:
Dec. 19/09 – Jan 3/10*

11. Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability
Two interconnected themes:
Ability to
A Framework ENERGIZE
for Strategic change (org.
Sustainable learning and
Development leadership)
(FSSD)
… primarily content … primarily process
We need both to adequately affect change!

12. Two themes, integrated through
five learning circles...
A Framework for
Ability to
Strategic
ENERGIZE
Sustainable
change (org.
Development learning and
(FSSD)
leadership)
1) Teaching
2) Coaching
3) Advising

13. Five Learning ‘Circles’
Expanding on key concepts:
•‘Warm-up,’ then…
•Circles 1 - 2: core concepts
•Circles 3 - 5: in-depth on
key issues/problem areas
•Circles 3 - 4: External
experts, various topics
•Circle 5: Thesis

14. The invitation
 ... to something meaningful (trying to make
the world a better place)
 Explicit about trying to provide alternative
learning approaches, in a transdisciplinary
setting, using a science based approach
 Clear that their year has the opportunity to be
full of co-creation (they make what they want
to get out of it), co-learning (we all learn
together)
 Open Space session: What do we want to
create together in the next 10 months?

15. Who attends?
 About 430 graduates to date (June 2012)
 22-60 years of age, ave. age: 28-32
 Typically represent 15-22 different nationalities
 More than 50 different countries have been
represented
 Very active at BTH and in Karlskrona
 Significant media coverage, locally and
globally
 Many alumni accepting excellent positions
after graduating
 First alumni reunion/conference undertaken
February 2009 in Australia

16. Successful ’design’ aspects
 Focus is on ’creating the right space’
 When selecting applicants, we aim for diversity
(age, culture, experience, background)
 ”Social learning”: We are all here to learn from
one another, and they are their biggest
resources
 From start to ’finish’ we treat them as one
cohesive group. We are not a collection of
courses, we are a programme.

17. Successful ’design’ aspects
 Staff – Student relationships
 Role modelling leadership and creation of
the ’safe space’. (Constructive feedback,
no ’wrong’ ideas, or stupid questions)
 Extremely high level of input on
assignments
 Personal time with students (outside class)
 Student council allows a channel from
students to programme team, and in
general, our doors are open
 We aim for an early field trip for class and
class-staff bonding

18. Successful ’design’ aspects
 The atmosphere of co-creation
 Open Space
 Progressively less ’control’ by the teaching
staff over the programme. They are made
aware of this from the beginning
 Students are empowered to host their own
events (eg. Art of Hosting)
 Staff continually ask for students to take the
lead on things (reading groups, organizing
events, taking names of groups, collecting
money, etc.)

19. Successful ’design’ aspects
 Structures that lead to good results
 Student council
 Learning lab
 Peer evaluations
 Lots of group work
 ’Required’ debriefs / lessons learned
 Reflective questions build into assignment,
exams, etc.
 Real life projects
 Lots of opportunities to give feedback
/input (course surveys, 3-week survey,
periodic meetings, etc.)

20. Successful ’design’ aspects
 Alumni network
 Helps in finding jobs, resources, etc.
 Support network in general
 Raises money for scholarships
 Marketing for BTH
 Source of help for current students
 Mentoring program
 Coaches on STM projects

21. Other?
 Sustainability group  Extra care/touch with
has an ambition to be incoming/ applying
world-class students
 Well connected with  Marketing via Twitter,
research / education Facebook, alumni
networks, WiserEarth,
 We are mostly alumni, Blogs, videos, etc.
quite young,
international, and
therefore can relate
to what they are
going through

22. Current Challenges
 Empowering people can lead to lots of ambitious
students  lots of commitments
 There seems to be never enough time (see above),
especially for marketing and admission process
 We have a diverse and growing staff with no time for
coordination / management. There are many projects
on the go.
 Tuition fees impacted the numbers and mix of the
students
 We have requests for partnerships, but don’t yet have
a good way to engage (or the time)
 Students feel overworked (is this the content or the
extra-curricular?)
 We are lacking Africa viewpoints
 Most staff have a ’western’ mindset
 Staff retention has been hard