The convergence of societal advancement and the education of future sustainability professionals: a solution-oriented approach to place-based environmental changes - A descriptive case study of the Master's course 'Strategic Environmental Development' of

Abstract: Building sustainable, collaborative solutions to contemporary sustainability challenges requires a new generation of future professionals or ‘change-agents,’ the engagement of non-academic stakeholders, and academic facilitation. Educational reform is needed in order to enhance students’ competencies in becoming effective sustainability professionals. Effective collaborative platforms have the potential to contribute to such reform and also engage societal actors and academic experts in building solutions for local, regional and global sustainability problems. Sustainability research education and participatory sustainability research are two complementary concepts which provide a framework to evaluate and understand the processes and outcomes of participatory, solution-oriented projects between students, stakeholders and academics. In this thesis, these frameworks are applied to gain insight to a course within a Master’s of Science program in Environmental Policy and Management. The course, called Strategic Environmental Development (SED), is conducted yearly at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) within Lund University in Lund, Sweden. It has been implemented for 20 years and has engaged over 500 students and dozens of societal actors around the world, ranging from municipalities to companies. The course is based on a practical, real-world approach to learning using shortterm projects in collaboration with professionals throughout various sectors of society and from around the world. The aim of this thesis is to describe the course as a phenomenon in it’s implementation and further describe and analyze the process and outcomes, structured according to the concepts of sustainability research education and participatory sustainability research, as well as key competencies in sustainability education. This research sought perspectives within three distinct stakeholder groups; students, the academic institution and clients. The findings explore the causal links between the recognized outcomes of the course (e.g. enhanced capacity and expanded networks) to specific variables of the process (e.g. supervision, communication, course structure, collaborative elements, and client interaction). This thesis recommends flexible and dynamic but well-structured management, a combination of one-time projects and repeating clients, making information clear and accessible, introducing tools to maximize student learning, and cultivating a balance between stakeholder groups in allocating responsibility.