Online Induction to Sustainability for Staff and Students to Support Transformational Change in Higher Education

This study explores how a sustainability induction module for staff and students can meaningfully operationalise multiple Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) across a higher education institution (HEI). The paper examines tensions between comprehensive SDG integration and efforts to cultivate whole-institution sustainability culture. Using Sterling’s transformational framework, we analyse how staff and students engaged with module content spanning diverse SDGs, including Indigenous land management (SDG 15), ethical consumption (SDG 12), modern slavery (SDG 8), governance (SDG 16) and community engagement (SDG 17). Findings reveal how staff and students experience the parallels between working across SDGs and learning about sustainable actions within personal, organisational, and community contexts of HEIs. While participants appreciated the interconnectedness of sustainability challenges, they also highlighted difficulties associated with the breadth and complexity of addressing multiple SDGs within a single induction experience. This research advances understanding of how transition-oriented learning spaces that are situated between individual and institutional development and those involving affective, cognitive, and intentional dimensions of change, can support HEIs in progressing the 2030 Agenda. At the same time, it identifies key pedagogical challenges in designing induction modules that integrate multiple SDGs in practice.