An analysis of the insertion of sustainability elements in undergraduate design courses offered by Brazilian higher education institutions: an exploratory study

Corrêa, Matheus, Lima, Brenno Vinicius de Medeiros, Martins, Vitor William Batista, Rampasso, Izabela Simon, Anholon, Rosley, Quelhas, Osvaldo LG and Leal Filho, Walter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1241-5225 (2020) An analysis of the insertion of sustainability elements in undergraduate design courses offered by Brazilian higher education institutions: an exploratory study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 272. 122733. ISSN 0959-6526

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Abstract

When it comes to the perception of all aspects of sustainability, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide are responsible for preparing students, changing their attitudes, and encouraging them to think about future generations. In this sense, the main objective of this study is to analyze how sustainability has been inserted into undergraduate design courses offered by Brazilian HEIs. For the purposes of this study, 30 pedagogic projects of the aforementioned courses were analyzed through a content analysis technique. The results demonstrated that the analyzed design undergraduate courses are still in the early stages of considering guidelines that take sustainability into account. The most critical point is the small number of laboratories and research groups dedicated to this subject, as well as the small number of academic events and extension programs associated with this subject. The discussions presented here can greatly contribute to and enhance the debate about improvements in design courses in the context of sustainability.