Education Program
Sustainability Science Associate Program (an interdisciplinary Education Program)
Everyone viewing this web page is probably interested in sustainability and environmental problems. But sustainability is a broad topic, and people may wonder how they can use their specialized knowledge to help and what those in other fields with the same interests know and believe about sustainability. The SDC program offers a curriculum designed to answer such questions. Because this education program is available to the entire university, there are opportunities for sustainability knowledge and people to be shared between departments, which generates a new unified understanding that can then be passed on to students. Our aim in doing this is to train students who will make an active contribution to society as specialists who also have an understanding of sustainability science. The Sustainability Science Associate Program (an interdisciplinary Education Program), unlike traditional degree programs, offers course clusters for different fields related to sustainability science and provides coursework guidelines that help students find what courses to take to deepen their knowledge of sustainability. Specifically, the Sustainability Science Associate Program (Interdisciplinary Education Program) consists of three required electives and twenty-five optional electives (associate courses).
Here is a brief explanation of the program course clusters. First, the aim of the required electives is to raise students' sustainability literacy by helping them acquire overall knowledge of the problems involved by presenting specific examples and teaching students problem-solving skills and valuation techniques. In these courses, students take part in group discussions and site visits to enhance their communication skills and knowledge of local conditions. Each of the required electives deals with core sustainability science concepts and techniques, but these are divided into four courses by viewpoint and approach. See the figure below.
In addition, the twenty-five optional elective Sustainability Associate courses are sustainability-related courses offered by various graduate programs but are also available through this program. The objective of these associate courses is to increase students' knowledge and skills sufficiently to pursue sustainability studies and help students acquire ethical values and communication skills relevant to science and technology.