Dear Colleagues,

One of the targets for the Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations in 2015 aims to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. In this context, with universities being a subsystem of society and oriented by its needs, values, and norms, a slow and laborious process of change is foreseen. It is time for key changes in methods, form, and instruments—perhaps it is the most propitious moment to not return to stereotypical and routine study that is market-driven without connection to the community, human beings, and nature. Education for sustainable development, ESD, prepares learners to understand and respond to the changing world and drives sustainable development. It produces learning outcomes that include core competences, which can be summarized as twelve competences: systems thinking; interdisciplinary work; anticipatory thinking; justice, responsibility, and ethics; critical thinking and analysis; interpersonal relations and collaboration; empathy and change of perspective; communication and use of media; strategic action; personal involvement; assessment and evaluation; and tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. Thus, to develop these new competences, new pedagogical approaches have been incorporated. Therefore, the purpose of the Special Issue is that university professors who are working in this regard present their contributions, focusing especially on technical studies, engineering, and architecture. Techniques such as brainstorming, peer assessment, problem-based learning, collaborative learning, online discussion forums, games and systems simulations, among others [1–4] can be found in literature. With this proposal, this area, so interesting and fundamental for the future of universities, would be notably enriched.

1. Lambrechts, W.; Mulà, I.; Ceulemans, K.; Molderez, I.; Gaeremynck, V. The integration of competences for sustainable development in higher education: an analysis of bachelor programs in management. Clean. Prod. 2013, 48, 65–73, doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.12.034.
2. Cotton and J. Winter, “It´s not just bits of paper and light bulbs: A review of sustainability pedagogies and their potential for use in higher education” in Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice across Higher Education. Jones, P., Selby, D., Sterling, S., Eds., Earthscan: London, UK; New York, NY, USA, 2010.
3. Murga-Menoyo, M. Ángeles Learning for a Sustainable Economy: Teaching of Green Competencies in the University. 2014, 6, 2974–2992, doi:10.3390/su6052974.
4. Segalàs, J.; Balas, D.F.; Mulder, K.F. What do engineering students learn in sustainability courses? The effect of the pedagogical approach. J. Clean. Prod. 2010, 18, 275–284, doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2009.09.012.

Dr. Cristina Marieta
Dr. Alexander Martín Garín
Dr. Iñigo Leon
Guest Editors

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• sustainable development
• pedagogical approach
• higher studies

Title: Using sustainable development applications to introduce transversal skills in engineering
Authors: Isidro Calvo
Affiliation: System Engineering and Automation Department, Faculty of Engineering of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country University (UPV/EHU), 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Abstract: The increasing relevance of sustainable development is causing that more and more universities and higher education institutions are starting to include sustainability related topics in their curricula, so that students take a more active role in the design of solutions. In this sense, several declarations have been proposed to introduce sustainability in higher education. In particular, the Declaration of Barcelona, launched in October 2004, calls for multidisciplinary, systems oriented, critical thinking, participative and holistic education for engineers. Achieving this objective requires that some elements should be reviewed, such as the content of the courses, the teaching strategies, the teaching and learning techniques, evaluation and assessment techniques. Engineering applications aimed at achieving higher sustainable development tend to be highly multidisciplinary. Actually, some authors consider sustainability as a meta-discipline, since the design of sustainable engineering solutions combines approaches from several disciplines involving social, economic, scientific and technical issues. In this scenario, the analysis of problems that involve sustainable development may help students to acquire transversal skills by facing multidisciplinary projects. Some authors recommend presenting close experiences to the students, for example in the University Campus. Thus, students may internalize better the sustainability issues. This approach may help professors to introduce the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in engineering and students to think about taking a more active role in the future. This work presents the design of a teaching experience in sustainability which focusses on multidisciplinarity. This experience is currently under development in the degree of Engineering in Industrial Electronics and Automatics, in the Faculty of Engineering of Vitoria-Gasteiz, UPV/EHU (EIVG). The proposed experience is developed along two academic years (2021-22 and 2022-23) in the context of an innovative education project. In particular, students are required to analyze the thermal comfort in the building in order to optimize the energy consumption. Students analyze this problem from different perspectives through several subjects in the degree. Actually, it becomes the thread for: (1) presenting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), (2) raising awareness about its importance, (3) analyzing a problem in a multidisciplinary way, (4) visualizing how to apply the acquired knowledge in the future challenges that students will face, and (5) introduce the sustainability as possible future professional activity for engineering students. Thus, the teaching experience involves several actions in different subjects along the degree, including, optionally, the final degree project. Since some authors have analyzed the benefits to apply active methodologies, and particularly Problem Based Learning (PBL), the presented proposal follows this approach. This work presents an itinerary that students will follow along several courses of the degree, in which they analyze the problem from several perspectives. By doing so, the authors seek to break the knowledge compartmentalization, which is common in traditional education, fostering the acquisition of transversal skills. This work will present the feedback by the students, based on questionnaires and academic results, aimed at evaluating the satisfaction of the students with the educative methodology followed, the acquisition of the learning outcomes, as well as raising awareness among the students with sustainability issues in the degree.

Title: Improvement of University Education in The Field of Sustainability Through International Cooperation Actions
Authors: Raúl Briones-Llorente; Gabriel Rubio-Pérez; Natalia Muñoz-Rujas; Fernando Aguilar Romero; José Antonio Millán-García; Ángel Rodríguez Saiz
Affiliation: Energy Engineering Research Group (iENERGÍA), Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Burgos, Avenida de Cantabria s/n, 09006 Burgos, Spain
Abstract: The Energy Engineering Research Group (iENERGÍA) of the University of Burgos is made up of researchers who teach subjects related to efficiency, energy saving and sustainability in industry and construction. They have been progressively implementing a teaching method based on problem-based learning (PBL), which moves away from the traditional approach of theoretical teaching, obtaining greater student involvement and better academic results. In addition, they participate in two International Cooperation Agreements with the Chouaib Doukkali University (El Jadida) and with the Abdelmalek Essaádi University (Tétouan), both located in Morocco, and a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Pusan, in South Korea. Thanks to them, it has been possible to develop actions such as the exchange of students and researchers, postgraduate training in Master and Doctorate, joint participation in research and technological development projects, the dissemination of the obtained research results, and the promotion to the transition from the laboratory to open digital educational resources in engineering. In addition, it has made it easier for postgraduate students from Morocco to carry out the experimental part of their research in the facilities of the University of Burgos. It can be concluded that the international cooperation actions carried out to improve teaching and research in matters related to sustainability in industry and construction have met the stated objectives and are also aligned with several of the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Title: Systems Thinking for Sustainability Education In Building and Business Administration and Management Degrees
Authors: Rafael Marcos; Daniel Ferrández; Carlos Morón
Affiliation: Departamento de Tecnología de la Edificación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Abstract: In 2015, UNESCO set the 2030 Agenda, which established 15 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including different areas, among them Education, which determine the reality and the future of new generations. The data of SDG24 2021 establish that by 2030 the reference values will be below those expressed in SDG 4. Education for sustainable development poses a series of competencies to achieve it, the challenge for teachers is to develop strategies, tools and methodologies that enable meaningful learning for the required complexity. Managing and solving sustainability problems requires people with systemic competences, able to see the whole in the individuality, presenting a breadth of vision for a complex world. It is important that training takes place in universities so that students are equipped with a holistic understanding of systems. The aim of this research is to propose a didactic proposal for students of the double degree in Building and Business Administration and Management to acquire the competences of systems thinking, interdisciplinary work, personal and inter-collaborative relationships and tolerance to ambiguity and uncertainty through the use of projet-based learning and systems simulation. To achieve this, a classroom intervention proposal has been designed for the subjects Strategic Management and Sustainable Construction in the fourth year of the double degree. This practical proposal allows participants to develop a holistic view of the problems, enhancing the capacity for systemic and sustainable resolution in the design of more sustainable construction systems, as well as favouring training in strategic decision-making in environmental management in the medium and long term.