Auditing the University: Promoting Education for Sustainability for Business Management Students Through Audit-based Learning

Efforts to improve university-wide sustainability generally include sustainability learning, teaching, assessment, and campus sustainability activities; traditionally discrete activities facilitated separately by academics and estates’ management staff. In order to incorporate a local context into Worcester Business School’s Education for Sustainability (EfS) and improve university-wide sustainability performance, these two strands have been combined to create a constructivist, learner-centred business sustainability curriculum based on sustainability audits of the University.

Auditing the University provides practical, active audit-based learning to deliver students’ evolving preferences for experiential, collaborative learning. This sustainability audit uses real-life business processes to develop sustainability knowledge that is vital to promote sustainable business futures. It also develops students’ softer employment skills: negotiation, collaboration and influencing, which are essential for future career success.

This paper presents a case study analysis of an audit-based learning module for Business Management Students and explores opportunities and challenges associated with delivering it. It utilises the Framework for 21st Century Learning to assess the value audit-based learning, teaching and assessment has for Education for Sustainability and student engagement. Research findings are synthesised to capture and share this innovative approach to learning, teaching and assessment of business sustainability and offer insights to other developers of interactive, experiential sustainability learning, teaching and assessment tools.