How experiential learning can build sustainability skills and spark change

Most students want to engage with global challenges during their studies, regardless of their discipline, a Students Organising for Sustainability UK survey has found. 

For university educators, the question is no longer whether to embed sustainability across their curricula but how to make it relevant to students’ future careers. 

Experiential learning initiatives can empower students not only to understand sustainability but to live it. Their design requires a rethink around the traditional boundaries between teaching, research and engagement. 

The Warwick Sustainability Challenge (WSUsC) is an interdisciplinary experiential learning initiative that brings together students, staff and local partners to co-create solutions to real sustainability issues on campus and in the wider community. 

Using a design thinking approach, it prompts students to explore themes such as sustainable transport, food security, reuse and the circular economy, waste reduction and energy efficiency. It facilitates innovative and implementable ideas that, in some cases, have led to real-world change.

Co-creation, interdisciplinarity and real-world relevance are all key to its success. 

The power of co-creation

Students are not passive recipients of knowledge. They are active partners who shape the learning experience. In the WSUsC, they work alongside staff, local policymakers and community organisations such as Coventry City Council to identify barriers to and opportunities for sustainable action. This participatory model boosts agency and ownership, making learning both meaningful and impactful. 

We recommend inviting students and staff to draw on existing co-creation techniques when collaborating with external partners. Designing Together, TALON and Analog Inspiration card decks and practices such as Liberating Structures can make the process inclusive and joyful. Such collaboration builds trust and belonging and boosts skills.  

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Interdisciplinarity as a force for change

The complex nature of sustainability problems demands collaboration across disciplines. WSUsC brings together students from economics, business, engineering and psychology, among others, to contribute a range of perspectives and methods. This mirrors the kind of cross-sector collaboration that sustainability work increasingly requires in the public and private sectors. 

Students must leave their disciplinary comfort zones to build new sustainability skills and knowledge. Encourage them by appealing to their curiosity and interest in sustainability, rather than placing emphasis on their subject-specific expertise. It can help to wait until students have applied to take part before revealing the exact nature of the challenge. In our case, curiosity overrode concerns about the unknown nature of the challenge, and we saw very low dropout rates.

Establish spaces for interdisciplinary exploration to build relationships with local authorities and other organisations. Examples include on-campus Big Questions events, the Coventry CollaborACTION and Knowledge exCHANGE community and the Early Career Researcher Sustainability Training Academy. Collaboration with colleagues can lead to the provision of inclusive opportunities for all students. 

Prioritise real-world relevance

Local authorities face complex issues which, because of varying factors, are very difficult to resolve. These “wicked problems” often call for outsider expertise from universities and other organisations.

WSUsC students have worked with Coventry City Council on projects aimed at:

• increasing public transport use post-Covid-19
• increasing bicycle commuting
• promoting the take-up of retrofit grants to improve domestic energy efficiency
• improving food security
• improving the living conditions, health and well-being of renter families 
• reducing e-waste.   

Participants do not simply write reports or deliver presentations. They prototype solutions and, in some cases, see their ideas translated into practice on campus and beyond. For example, student recommendations have informed the design of behaviour change campaigns and university sustainability initiatives. Although implementation is not always guaranteed, these experiences give students insight into how their ideas could work in practice and demonstrate how knowledge can lead to societal change. 

Logistical challenges

Competing commitments, working styles and organisational cultures can be tricky to navigate during interdisciplinary experiential learning initiatives. Success is dependent on building strong relationships across departments and with external partners. Clear expectations, roles and communication channels are also important from the outset, as are flexible access to resources and spaces and recognition of interdisciplinary teaching and collaboration within workload models.

It can be a challenge to strike the balance between student agency and academic support. We found student coaches and peer learning made the most difference. We incentivised coaching roles by offering payment, training and employability support. Where possible, seek small funding pots to develop leadership skills and create an environment that supports peer learning, iteration and the application of knowledge to real-world contexts.

As universities continue to respond to the climate crisis, the challenge is not only to equip students with sustainability knowledge but to cultivate the confidence and creativity to act on it. By bridging disciplinary boundaries and fostering civic partnership, universities can move beyond awareness-raising to empowerment. This way, we nurture a generation of graduates who can design and lead the way towards a more just and sustainable future.

Lory Barile and Bo Kelestyn are associate professors at the University of Warwick. Bret Willers is head of sustainability at Coventry City Council.

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