Perhaps the most important tasks of universities today are to stimulate critical thinking in young people, shape their outlook on life, and sharpen their skills to take action. Today, adapting our education to the complexity of societal challenges and 'wicked problems' is a necessity. The University of Antwerp has a strong tradition in interdisciplinary education. Recent developments have been the establishment of a formal Working Group "Sustainability, Climate and Education" that developed a university-wide vision on 'sustainability in education', and the organization of workshops for CIKO staff and teachers. Yet it remains at the same time a fragmented landscape with a lack of university-wide overview and visibility.
Breakthrough actions 2025-2026:
- the implementation of the University-wide Thematic Analysis regarding sustainability and education;
- facilitating interfaculty collaboration and innovative interdisciplinary initiatives in sustainability education.
These breakthrough actions can be supported with further data collection (student surveys, mapping competencies), creating a cross-faculty community around this (organizing meetings, free access to interdisciplinary courses, workshops), and experimenting with successful initiatives (Living Lab, sustainable Maker Space) and a structural funding stream for problem-based and interdisciplinary educational projects.