The EDINSOST project (Educación e innovación social para la sostenibilidad. Formación en las Universidades españolas de profesionales como agentes de cambio para afrontar los retos de la Sociedad, official title in Spanish) was financed by the "State Program for R&D&i Oriented to the Challenges of Society". The project had a duration between 2016 and 2018. The general objective of the project was to advance in innovation education in Development Education in Spanish universities to provide future graduates with the necessary skills to catalyse change towards a more sustainable society.
To achieve the objective of the project, frameworks and processes were developed to facilitate the integration of ESD (Education for sustainable development) in the university curriculum in a holistic way, through the mapping of pedagogical practices and existing frameworks in ESD, the diagnosis of state of ESD in Spanish universities and the creation and evaluation of teaching and learning materials for students, as well as the development of ESD skills of teachers, through the design of support materials and professional development courses [1].
The EDINSOST project had four specific objectives;
- Define the sustainability map of the participating degrees and establish the framework that facilitates its integration into studies in a holistic way;
- Validate didactic strategies for the acquisition of sustainability from a constructivist and community pedagogical approach;
- Diagnose the state of training needs in sustainability in the faculty and develop and test training proposals;
- Diagnose the learning status of sustainability in student’s college and develop and test training proposals.
A total of 15 degrees from the fields of education and engineering, taught at 9 universities throughout Spain (UAM: Autonomous University of Madrid, UCA: University of Cadiz, UCJC: Camilo Jose Cela University, UCO: University of Cordoba, UdG: University of Girona, UIC: International University of Catalonia, UPC, US: University of Sevilla and USAL: University of Salamanca), and 52 researchers worked among the team of research and teamwork [2].
The publication “El Proyecto EDINSOST: Educación e Innovación para la Sostenibilidad” (in English: The EDINSOST Project: Education and Innovation for Sustainability) was made on 2018. Specifically, the opinion of 3364 students from nine engineering degrees taught at three universities was analysed through a questionnaire of 34 questions.
The results showed that students consider that they have achieved only two thirds of the sustainability competencies they should have on completion of their studies (66.3%). In the nine degrees, the worst results are obtained for the competency “application of ethical principles related to the values of sustainability”, in which the fourth-year students declare having achieved, on average, only 53% of the expected learning outcomes. These results clearly show that engineering degrees should devote more time and effort to include Education for Sustainable Development in the curriculum.
According to the article engineering curricula focus on working on the economic aspects of projects, while neglecting environmental aspects [3].
Currently, the project EDINSOST had arrived at its end. However, a new project has continued it. EDINSOST2-ODS is the continuation of the EDINSOST project. It is built on the results of the previous project adding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations, analysing how to efficiently and effectively introduce the skills in SDG in the degrees of the Spanish university system. It started in 2019 and it will end at September 2022.
The main objective is to graduate graduates with the skills in sustainability and the SDGs that society requires. For this reason, how the SDG competencies should be taught/learned will be identified, and teacher training and learning tools will be developed.
The participating entities and institutions are:
- BarcelonaTech.
- Polytechnic University of Madrid.
- University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibersitatea.
- University of Sevilla.
- International University of Catalonia.
- University of Murcia.
- University of Salamanca.
- Complutense University of Madrid [4].