Interdisciplinary collaboration in higher education towards sustainable development

Abstract

The literature and practitioners both emphasise the need to involve universities in the promotion and implementation of SDGs. On the other hand, the lack of practical solutions to include SDGs in university activity is constantly emphasised. The objective of the article is to investigate how project-based learning innovations used in student education affect the achievement of sustainable development goals. We analyse whether innovative project based–learning projects at a leading technology university in Poland pursued from 2018 to 2021 contribute to achieving sustainable development goals, and we study the matter of interdisciplinarity of the project teams. To this end, we employ a qualitative content analysis of reports for 108 projects that involved 324 researchers, 607 students, and 233 experts from the university's business environment. The categorical data yielded by the analysis are analysed with quantitative methods: frequency analysis, correspondence analysis, and data visualisation. The analyses demonstrated that the most commonly pursued sustainable development goals were: SDG 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, and SDG 12: Responsible Production and Construction. Biomedical Engineering experts pursued projects dedicated to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, while Automation and Robotics specialists focused on SDGs 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. The primary sustainable development goal for Environmental Engineering teams was SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production followed by SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. The most common interdisciplinarity in the teams was of the second type: interdisciplinarity bringing together experts from two research areas. The article presents the results of research on the process of promoting sustainable development through project-based learning implemented under an interdisciplinary collaboration of teams of university staff, students, and experts from businesses associated with the university. The results contribute to the academic debate on the ability of universities to teach, implement, and promote sustainable development and its goals.