How can we prepare students across disciplines and countries to engage with today’s most complex sustainability challenges? Our project brings together educators from Uppsala University (SE), the University of Groningen (NL), and the University of Tartu (EE) to co-create a transformative, student-active course on Sustainable Futures.
Grounded in student-active, transdisciplinary, and challenge-based learning, the course invites students from different academic backgrounds and campuses to collaborate, play, and problem-solve together. We focus on critical reflection, systems thinking, and action competence—key capabilities for navigating the sustainability transformations ahead.
Our approach draws on experiential learning and co-creation: students are not passive recipients of knowledge, but active participants shaping the course experience. Through a series of interactive modules and international collaboration, they engage deeply with real-world sustainability issues, such as biodiversity loss.
For us as educators, the course is also a space for pedagogical experimentation and growth. By starting small and building on mutual trust, we test new formats, exchange experiences, and reflect together. This collaborative process strengthens our capacity to develop innovative, future-oriented education across university borders.
The project contributes to ENLIGHT’s mission by developing shared pedagogical tools, integrating diverse academic perspectives, and offering a scalable model for international, sustainability-focused teaching. It demonstrates how cross-university cooperation can empower students as critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and agents of change in a rapidly shifting world.
My personal highlight of this project is to co-develop sessions with teachers from other universities. - Coordinator
Participants and Stakeholders
Coordinator
Lina Mtwana Nordlund, Uppsala University
Other Partner Institutions
- University of Groningen
- University of Tartu
Team Composition
Lina Mtwana Nordlund – Associate professor, project leader and mina developer of the course
Laura Govers, University of Groningen – Associate professor, part of the co-teaching and co-creation of the course
Tiia Möller-Raid, University of Tartu – researcher, part of the co-teaching and co-creation of the course
Objectives
- Develop and pilot an innovative, international course on Sustainable Futures
Co-create a semester-long course that brings together students and teachers from multiple universities and disciplines. The course uses playful, student-active, and challenge-based formats to explore complex sustainability issues. - Foster transdisciplinary, intercultural, and experiential learning
Engage students from different cultural and academic backgrounds in collaborative, real-world problem-solving. Build key sustainability competencies such as critical thinking, systems thinking, and action-oriented learning. - Build lasting cross-university collaboration in sustainability education
Strengthen partnerships among educators by jointly designing, testing, and reflecting on new pedagogical methods. Contribute to ENLIGHT’s mission through shared teaching experiences that can scale across institutions.
Contact
Contact person
Lina Mtwana Nordlund, Associate Professor in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala university
Additional Information
The project explicitly experiments with methods such as challenge-based learning, inter-university peer collaboration, and experiential learning, pushing the boundaries of traditional teaching.