Ashesi University believes in striving to cultivate mindsets to bring about sustainable progressive behaviors. Cultivating minds requires meaningful repitition, opportunities for authentic practice, and space to model preferred behavior. At Ashesi, to engage the students in meaningful and authentic repetitive practice in sustainability, a climate specialist was hired to work with each faculty member individually and collectively to identify aspects of each curriculum which could serve as a potential teachable climate-related concept. Together with each faculty member, the climate expert helped to craft a climate- or sustainability-related exercise, assignment or project, inherent to the course goals and content, skills, or dispositions. Relevant literature, links, and other materials were also curated for each syllabus. Faculty buy-in was key if the sustainability exercises were to be implemented, and the process assisted with faculty engagement and choice. The intent of this university-wide curriculum enhancement of each of Ashesi’s four-year programs was to steadily and intrinsically develop and measure, in a systematic and regular manner, the cultivation of the minds of students in sustainability. Additionally, two sustainability courses are offered as electives each year, “Climate and Global Innovation” and “Sustainability and Systems Thinking”. We have found that some final year students are choosing sustainability-type research questions for their capstone thesis.
Ashesi believes also in modeling its mission through its initiatives and daily actions. With regards to sustainability, Ashesi currently has 12% solar power generated energy and has declared as its goal to work towards 60% by 2030. Currently, towards that transition, Ashesi has significantly reduced its dependence on grid electricity by generating 116.142 kWh of energy through its solar panels, contributing to a 40.8 metric ton reduction on CO2 emissions over the past 5 years. In addition it practices rainwater harvesting, and in 2022 the harvest met 25% of its total water demand on campus. Ashesi also recycles its waste water to use to keep the campus green and which it treats to convert into methane biogas used for energy on campus. The modeling or “indirect curriculum” provides students with lived experiences that we believe help shape their sustainability mindset and actions.
One other measure of sustainability literacy among our students are the numerous self- initiated sustainability actions throughout the year of different groups of students on their own volition. Examples include, two students in 2023 who asked to speak to the larger student body at one of Ashesi’s biannual townhall meetings, and who asked their colleagues to be careful with the use of water on campus, describing student behaviors that the students could relate to realistically. Different groups of students annually hold a symposium on sustainability. One student who has made sustainability her life mission has co-authored a guidebook on sustainability and an article on the impact of climate change on migration and climate mobility, published on the International Organization on Migration (IOM) website. She has physically reached over 15,000 individuals to spread climate literacy in Ghana and influenced 2 advocacy policies for the Global Citizenship unit.
Ashesi develops sustainability literacy in its students as part of its curriculum, and like all other topics of learning, it measures student development in sustainability as a legitimate and valued concept for life.
