a competency-based educational approach
The UGA Sustainability Certificate links knowledge, skills, values, aptitudes, and attitudes necessary to address complex sustainability problems. Through courses, seminars, capstones and portfolios, Certificate students develop the following key competencies that help them innovate sustainable solutions in a wide range of disciplines.
Integrated Problem Solving Competency
Students will be able to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive, and equitable solutions that promote sustainable development, integrating the other competencies.
Systems Thinking Competency (STC)
Students will be able recognize and understand relationships; to analyze complex systems, including their social, environmental, and economic components,to evaluate how systems are embedded within different domains and scales; and to deal with uncertainty when making decisions
Anticipatory Competency (AC)
Student will be able to understand and evaluate multiple futures-possible, probable and desirable; to create their own vision of the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of action; to deal with risk and change.
Students will be able to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie their actions; and to negotiate sustainability values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interests and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Students will also be able to reflect on their own role in the local community and global society; to continually evaluate one’s actions; and deal with one’s feelings and desires.
Students will be able to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield.
Collaboration Competency/ Interpersonal
Students will be able to motivate, enable, and facilitate collaborative processes for sustainability problem solving. This includes the ability to learn from others including wester scientific and traditional knowledge and wisdom; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to, and be sensitive to others (empathetic leadership); tounderstand roles within a group, deal with conflicts, and maintainflexibility and adaptability in doing what is necessary / taking on roles to accomplish shared goals.
Intra Personal Competency
The ability to reflect onone’s own emotions, desires, thoughts and behaviors as well as one’s positionality and role in global society and local community. Acting with self-awarenessand regulating,motivating, and continually evaluating one’s actions to improve oneself, drawing on and developing emotional intelligence and resilience.
These competencies were drawn from “UNESCO. (2017). Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Learning Objectives” and “Wiek, A., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C. L. (2011). “Key competencies in sustainability: a reference framework for academic program development.” Sustainability Science, 6(2), 203-218), & the Global Council for Science and the Environment, "Proposal Statement on Key Competencies," 2023