The global Sustainable Development Goal of Good health and well-being (SDG3) is the goal within Agenda 2030 that most clearly relates to the Faculty of Medicine’s programmes. However, there is also a focus on several other goals, as all of the Faculty’s degree programmes have been developed to include perspectives and knowledge of sustainable development in preparation for students’ future professional lives.
The global Sustainable Development Goal of Good health and well-being (SDG3) is the focus of the Faculty of Medicine’s work.
ImageMostphotosStudents at the Faculty of Medicine have a future professional life that is clearly related to human health and well-being, for example within healthcare, dentistry, elderly care and medical research. All graduating students should therefore gain knowledge about, and be challenged in, issues relating to sustainable development and the UN’s global Sustainable Development Goals as articulated in Agenda 2030 during their education.
For example, students should gain knowledge about what sustainable development means for their future professional lives by highlighting the global Sustainable Development Goals, both individually and in relation to each other, and by problematising how they are affected by each other. However, the focus is on the Good health and well-being goal. In addition to Agenda 2030, students will also be trained in the key competences that, according to UNESCO, are required in order to participate actively in the transformative work for sustainable development.
All the Faculty’s degree programmes are working to integrate sustainable development into courses and programme syllabuses. A review of the existing sustainable development content was carried out in 2021–2022. Work has subsequently begun to integrate the sustainability perspective into various courses, course components and clinical practice, with the programmes placing particular importance on ensuring that students obtain knowledge and skills about and for sustainable development and Agenda 2030, and that this is also examined.
Linked to the Good health and well-being goal, there are action plans for gender equality, accessible patient education, improved healthcare, preventing climate change and striving towards the right conditions for inclusive societies, and highlighting the global perspective of good health as part of this.
One subject addressed within the specialist nursing programmes, for example, is the consequences recent scientific discoveries have had on low-, middle- and high-income countries.
Within the biomedicine programme, sustainable development is being developed into a holistic educational element that will permeate the entire education. In connection with modernising of a course in pathology, which is the programme’s final course before the degree project, it is planned that all teaching elements on sustainable development will be merged.
Although the Good health and well-being goal is prioritised, environmental and economic perspectives are also important. For example, several of the Faculty’s degree programmes address the management of chemicals and materials:
The dental education courses highlight the use and selection of dental materials and waste management. Here, a transition towards the digitalised production of crowns and bridges has also reduced the use of consumable and modelling materials and certain chemicals.
The biomedical analyst programme highlights the environmental impact of laboratory materials. Risk assessments are also carried out for chemicals and work processes. Furthermore, chemical use is reviewed regularly, with dangerous chemicals being replaced by less hazardous one.
Within the speech therapy programme’s linguistics courses, both the phonetical and grammatical foundations are laid with the Swedish language as a basis. The teaching therefore particularly challenges students with multilingual and non-Swedish backgrounds, but ultimately contributes towards inclusion and social sustainability.
Within the medicine programme, the transition to a new six-year programme has resulted in the creation of four course components on sustainable development, spread across four semesters.
At the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, a review of sustainable development within the master’s programme in public health science has resulted in all teaching staff participating in efforts to further integrate new learning elements.
To help teaching staff gain greater knowledge and understanding of what sustainable development, education for sustainable development, Agenda 2030 and key competences are, the University’s Centre for Educational Development (UPL) has been commissioned by the Faculty’s Strategic Board for Education to devise a training package with an introduction to education for sustainable development. The programme consists of two elements: online preparation and a workshop. The aim is that all the Faculty’s teaching staff should take part in the training during the current operational period.
Sustainable development is one of three pedagogical themes in the Faculty’s new third-cycle education programmes. The other two themes are interdisciplinary competence and knowledge translation. Within the sustainable development theme, interdisciplinary competence and collaboration are emphasised as being essential, as they are required in order to address global challenges.
The third-cycle education programme is based on a progression, whereby third-cycle students initially gain an overview understanding of all the Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on the Good health and well-being goal, and on specific challenges within medicine and health. The theme then runs throughout the programme, encouraging a diverse and interactive learning environment for new scientific ideas, collaborations and actions that are not limited by disciplinary boundaries. The assessment is that this provides third-cycle students with a sound foundation when encountering complex societal challenges, either as academic researchers or in leadership positions.