Sustainability How Transformative Competencies Can be Integrated into Existing Degree Programs
Press Release No. 73/2026
2 July 2026
Perspective article shows how university teaching can foster responsible engagement with societal challenges
Enabling people to reflect critically on societal changes and participate in meeting major challenges is the purpose of teaching transformative competencies. In a Perspective Article, Dr Nicole Aeschbach has examined how this approach can be systematically embedded in existing degree programs. The Heidelberg University scholar has developed a conceptual framework connecting research, teaching and learning in such a way that university education can empower students to engage in science-based reflection beyond their disciplinary context and enable them to become personally active.
Dr Aeschbach’s framework focuses on integrative elements linking transdisciplinary research, research-oriented teaching and transformative learning. It addresses lecturers and experts in curriculum and teaching development, offering them stimulating new ideas for designing learning formats. These are intended to encourage students to connect scientific findings with current transformation processes and reflect on their future responsibility in professional life and in society. “Important insights for higher education didactics arose from the exchange with the Study Skills and Teaching department of the university’s heiSKILLS Competence and Language Centre,” Nicole Aeschbach underlines.
The framework for imparting transformative competencies originated in an “iterative process”, Dr Aeschbach explains, in which theory formation and practical implementation mutually informed one another. Focusing on the fields of climate change and sustainability, Nicole Aeschbach worked with colleagues to gradually devise learning settings as part of research and teaching projects in geography and teacher education. In these settings, the content and methods of the respective disciplines are closely intertwined with the concept of “transformative literacy”. This approach relates to an integrated set of competencies, which enables people to understand complex societal transformation processes, to critically reflect on them and actively participate in shaping them.
Dr Aeschbach illustrates her conceptual thinking with tangible examples, including the project “Transformative Environmental Research”, which she leads at the Institute of Geography. Another example is the supplementary qualification “Sustainability” for future teachers, offered by the Heidelberg School of Education (HSE) – a joint institution of Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg University of Education for teacher training. With her framework, Nicole Aeschbach also links up with Heidelberg University’s “Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning”. These say that students should not only acquire disciplinary expertise but also be equipped to engage responsibly with societal challenges.
Nicole Aeschbach is active both in the 3DGeo research group at the Institute of Geography and at the HSE. Her Perspective Article appeared in the journal “npj Climate Action”.
Original publication
N. Aeschbach: Fostering transformative climate action through the integration of transdisciplinary research and university teaching. npj Climate Action 5, 32 (2026)