17.4.1 Education for SDGs commitment to meaningful education

From Classroom to Community: Embedding the SDGs Across SWU's Full Curriculum

Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) sees education as the University's strongest lever for sustainable development. SWU has a commitment to meaningful education around the SDGs across the university, relevant and applicable to all students. Rather than treating sustainability as a single subject, SWU integrates the SDGs across its full curriculum: in general education, in every degree programme, and in compulsory community engagement. Every student, in every faculty, therefore learns how the goals relate to their own discipline and future profession, and puts that learning into practice. The commitment is written into University policy and strategy, carried into every programme through the curriculum design and review cycle, and made compulsory for all students through the community engagement requirement.

In 2025, this commitment was delivered through five connected elements:

• A University-level policy – the Policy on Education for Sustainable Development, announced on 31 March 2025 (BE 2568) – and planning framework that require sustainability and the SDGs to be integrated into curricula at all levels, with SDG alignment checked whenever a programme is designed, delivered and reviewed.

• SDG-aligned learning outcomes embedded in general education and programme curricula across all faculties, with assessment mapped to those outcomes. Every undergraduate must take SWU 196, a compulsory General Education course built around the SDGs.

• Dedicated sustainability programmes and courses, including the degree programmes of the International College for Sustainability Studies and general education courses on sustainability.

• Learning through action: compulsory community engagement for every student, credit-bearing service-learning, and student Sustainable Development Projects.

• Measuring sustainability literacy through assessments embedded in general education courses and an annual SWU Sustainability Literacy Assessment that tests students and staff at the end of each academic year, covering 1,248 students and 312 staff and other personnel in 2025.

1. Commitment to meaningful education integrated across the full curriculum

SWU embeds SDG-aligned learning outcomes in its general education and programme curricula across all faculties, and maps course assessments to these outcomes. The outcomes include ethical citizenship, sustainability problem-solving and community partnership. In this way, students meet the SDGs through the lens of their own field: education students through inclusive and equitable quality education, science and environment students through environmental stewardship and climate action, and tourism and culture students through sustainable tourism and the protection of cultural heritage. SDG alignment spans faculties such as environmental culture and ecotourism, education and science.

The commitment reaches every student, not only those who choose a sustainability subject. Under the University's co-curricular activity structure, every undergraduate in a four-year programme must complete at least 100 hours or at least five activities in the public-service activity group (Figure 1), coordinated with the SWU Volunteer Center, and service-learning and action research are credit-bearing and built into courses. Through community-integrated learning, students work with schools, local communities and public agencies to apply SDG concepts to local needs, building teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills. Equity measures help students from low-income and underserved backgrounds take part fully in this learning. – view source

Figure 1. SWU co-curricular activity structure for undergraduate programmes of four years or more students must complete at least 100 hours or at least five activities in the public-service activity group. 

Source: Student Affairs Division, Srinakharinwirot University, p. 2.

Compulsory SDG education for every undergraduate

SWU requires every undergraduate to complete at least 30 credits of General Education, of which 24 credits are made up of four compulsory course sets. One of these is the "SWU for Society" course set, which consists of SWU 195 Creative Citizen for Society and SWU 196 Science and Art of Sustainable Social Development. The course set description states that students analyse social problems and propose approaches to social development consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the description of SWU 196 opens with the study of the UN SDGs. No student can therefore graduate from SWU without studying the SDGs.

The same compulsory structure appears in the programme specifications (TQF 2) of undergraduate programmes revised since B.E. 2565 (2022) across different faculties, for example:

• B.Sc. in Environmental Technology and Resources (revised B.E. 2566), Faculty of Environmental Culture and Ecotourism – TQF 2, p. 15

• B.Ed. in Social Studies (revised B.E. 2567), Faculty of Education – TQF 2, p. 34

• B.A. in Sociology for Development (revised B.E. 2565), Faculty of Social Sciences – TQF 2, p. 13

Figure 2. The compulsory General Education structure (four course sets, 24 credits), including the "SWU for Society" set and SWU 196, as it appears in the TQF 2 of three programmes from three faculties (left to right): Environmental Technology and Resources, p. 15; Social Studies, p. 34; Sociology for Development, p. 13.

Figure 3. Descriptions of the "SWU for Society" course set and of SWU 196, both of which refer explicitly to the United Nations SDGs (TQF 2, B.Sc. in Environmental Technology and Resources, p. 21).

SDGs in the design of specialised programmes

Beyond General Education, programmes use the SDGs as a framework when they revise their specialised courses. The TQF 2 of the B.Sc. in Environmental Technology and Resources (revised B.E. 2566) states in its rationale that the revision takes the Sustainable Development Goals into account. In the curriculum review, external experts recommended that course titles and descriptions be aligned with national strategies such as the BCG model and the SDGs. The programme responded by adding lecture topics to ทล224 Environmental Economics and Public Policy and ทล491 Sustainable Development and Environmental Culture. SDG alignment is thus built into how programmes are reviewed and improved, not only into what students study.

Figure 4. Rationale for the curriculum revision, citing the Sustainable Development Goals (TQF 2, B.Sc. in Environmental Technology and Resources, p. 6).

Figure 5. Curriculum review report: the external experts' recommendation to align courses with the BCG model and the SDGs, and the programme's response (TQF 2, B.Sc. in Environmental Technology and Resources, p. 67).

All programme specifications are approved through the University's curriculum approval process and published on SWU's curriculum information system (supreme.swu.ac.th), so the evidence of SDG integration across the curriculum is public.

Policy basis for the commitment

The commitment is set out in the Srinakharinwirot University Policy on Education for Sustainable Development, officially announced on 31 March 2025 (BE 2568). The policy states that all students, regardless of their faculty, field of study or level of education, shall receive meaningful education on the United Nations SDGs that is relevant to their discipline and that they can apply in their careers and everyday lives. Its main provisions are:

• Integration into academic curricula: sustainable development principles are integrated into curricula at all levels, undergraduate and postgraduate, and are reflected in programme learning outcomes, course content, teaching and learning activities and assessment. General education courses give all students a common foundation in sustainability, while discipline-specific courses cover the sustainability issues of each field.

• Approaches to teaching and learning: education for sustainable development is delivered through classroom, blended and digital learning, together with community-engaged learning, interdisciplinary projects, field studies and research-integrated learning, in collaboration with local communities, government agencies, the private sector and educational networks in Thailand and abroad.

• Monitoring and evaluation: the University supports faculty development in curriculum design and teaching for sustainable development, and uses curriculum development and quality assurance processes to review and improve the integration of sustainability continuously. The policy is reviewed at least once every five years.

Figure 6. Srinakharinwirot University Policy on Education for Sustainable Development, page 1

Figure 7. Srinakharinwirot University Policy on Education for Sustainable Development, page 2, announced on 31 March 2025 (BE 2568)

Source: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12BPuLd9Wf3Y_4dG8RQpUSt9nO9W70RoU

The commitment is also anchored in University strategy and curriculum regulations:

• SWU Action Plan B.E. 2566–2570, under the SWU 20-Year Strategic Plan. Strategy 1 sets the direction for "Excellent Curriculum & Teaching" and for "Students and Alumni Development for Global Citizen", and Strategy 3, "Social Engagement", requires the University's academic service to align with the SDGs and to have measurable impact (KPI 3-01). Results against these indicators are monitored and published every year.

The cover of the FY2025 monitoring report and the pages setting out the relevant strategies and indicators are reproduced below (Figures 8–11).

Figure 8. Cover of the SWU Action Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Report, FY2025 (B.E. 2568) – รายงานการติดตามและประเมินผลการปฏิบัติงาน ประจำปีงบประมาณ พ.ศ. 2568 (ภาพรวม), Planning and Strategy Division, Office of the President, Srinakharinwirot University.

Figure 9. Strategy 1 "Educational Leader", Issue 1 "Excellent Curriculum & Teaching Expert": objectives and indicators for curriculum development.

Figure 10. Strategy 1, Issue 4 "Students and Alumni Development for Global Citizen": in FY2025, 94.30% of students took part in competency development under the SWU SMART STUDENTS framework (KPI 1-21, target 90%), with a self-assessed competency score of 4.23 (KPI 1-22, target 3.85)

Figure 11. Strategy 3 "Social Engagement", Issue 1 "Social Services Corresponding with National Strategy, Policy and SDGs": in FY2025, 183 academic service and cultural projects aligned with the SDGs were delivered, with every unit meeting its target.

2. Dedicated sustainability programmes and courses

SWU offers degree programmes and courses in which sustainability is the core of the academic experience. They give students in-depth knowledge, analytical skills and practical tools to address sustainability challenges.

Full-degree programmes

The International College for Sustainability Studies offers three undergraduate programmes built around sustainability:

• B.A. in Sustainable Hospitality and Tourism Management, which prepares students to plan and manage tourism and hospitality that benefit local communities and protect the environment;

• B.Sc. in Environmental Technology and Resources, which trains students to apply science and technology to environmental management and the sustainable use of resources; and

• B.A. in Integrated Tourism Management, which links tourism development with culture, communities and sustainability.

General education courses open to all students

For students in every discipline, SWU's general education courses provide a shared foundation in sustainability: 

• SWU 196 Science and Art of Sustainable Social Development covers the United Nations SDGs; social and economic sustainability; culture and local wisdom for social development and the creative economy (soft power); the Inner Development Goals (IDGs); and developing projects for sustainable social development. Students use design thinking, systematic problem-solving and research methods, and digital tools to collect social science data, to design evidence-based solutions. SWU 196 is compulsory for every undergraduate as part of the "SWU for Society" course set.

• SWU 291 Healthy Lifestyle, SWU 292 Science: A Key to Harmonious Living with Our Environment and SWU 293 Adaptation in a Dynamic Society connect health and well-being, environmental science and social change to sustainable living.

3. From learning the SDGs to action: student Sustainable Development Projects

SWU's courses are designed to move students from knowledge to application and action. In SWU 196, the learning process leads to Sustainable Development Projects, in which students apply the SDGs, design thinking, research, data collection and digital tools to real-world problems. Examples include:

• “Khlong Toei New Vision: Changing for a Better Tomorrow.” Students studied the problems and needs of the Khlong Toei community in Bangkok and designed community development approaches with residents, covering the environment, quality of life, community space and community strengthening (SDG 11).

• “Educational Inequality Problem.” Students analysed educational inequality, including unequal access to online learning and educational resources, collected data from SWU students, and raised awareness of equal access to education (SDG 4 and SDG 10).

• “Reducing Waste for a Liveable Community,” Wang Wa community, Rayong Province. Students worked with the community on waste sorting, waste reduction, reuse of materials and participation in environmental management (SDG 11 and SDG 12).

These projects show that SDG education at SWU goes beyond theory and awareness. It develops students along a path from knowledge to skills, to application, to action, using data, research, creativity and problem-solving to respond to real social and environmental challenges.

4. Measuring sustainability literacy among students and staff

SWU's Educational Support and Service Office measures how well students understand and apply sustainability concepts through assessments embedded in the general education courses SWU 291, SWU 292 and SWU 293. The assessment combines a pre- and post-course sustainability literacy quiz, rubric-based assignments and examination items aligned with sustainability outcomes. Results are aggregated each semester to track students' learning gains and to inform curriculum improvement, so that SDG education keeps getting better.

The Social Service Office, Office of the President, also runs the SWU Sustainability Literacy Assessment, an annual survey of students in every faculty and, from 2025, of academic and support staff. SWU uses its own instrument rather than Sulitest TASK. Unlike a self-report survey alone, it includes a scored knowledge test, so it measures what respondents actually know as well as what they believe and do. The survey is open each year in April and May, the last two months of the second semester, and results are released in October so that they can feed into SDG reporting and planning for the new academic year. It is available online and on paper with the same questions and skip instructions. Respondents first give consent under the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) and are told that results are reported only in aggregate and have no effect on students’ grades or staff appraisal. The questionnaire takes about 10–15 minutes and has four parts: (1) general information, with separate questions for students and staff; (2) self-assessed knowledge, attitudes and everyday practices, rated on a five-point scale; (3) a scored 15-item true/false test, five items for each of the social, economic and environmental dimensions, mixing nine true and six false statements so that it checks whether respondents can reject common misconceptions as well as recognise correct facts; and (4) barriers that keep people from taking sustainable action. Items cover both the global SDG framework and issues close to Thai students’ lives, such as PM2.5 air pollution, community-based tourism and the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. Sample items include “SDG 4 aims to ensure that everyone has access to quality education on an equal basis and can keep learning throughout life” and “The circular economy means producing, using and throwing away products as quickly as possible to stimulate consumption”. Summary results are published in the SWU SDGs Report and on the SWU SDGs website (https://rankings.swu.ac.th/swu-sdgs), and are used alongside course-level assessments to guide improvements in SDG-related teaching.

In April–May 2025, 1,560 members of the University took part: 1,248 students at undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels, and 312 staff and other personnel. The mean score on the 15-item knowledge test was 11.1 out of 15 (73.9%), and 78% of respondents reached a “Good” or “Very good” level. Students, the main focus of this measurement, reached a mean of 10.8 out of 15 (72.0%), within the “Good” level, while staff scored 12.2. By dimension, the mean was 3.78 out of 5 for the economic dimension, 3.74 for the social dimension and 3.57 for the environmental dimension.

The results also show that students retain what they learn. Because the assessment is held at the end of the second semester, students who completed an SDG-related course such as SWU 196 in an earlier semester or year are tested some time after the course has ended. They scored 11.4 out of 15, against 9.1 for students who had not yet taken such a course, which shows that the key concepts stay with them beyond the course examination. Respondents were also better at recognising correct statements than at rejecting false ones (81% against 64% correct on average), and four of the five items below 65% describe common misconceptions, for example that the circular economy means fast consumption or that SDG 3 is only about hospitals. The weakest items point to SDG 6 (wastewater, 52% correct) and SDG 13 (greenhouse gases, 55%).

Attitudes towards sustainability were very positive (4.15 out of 5), while self-rated knowledge (3.30) and everyday practice (3.38) were lower. Comparing self-ratings with test results shows why both are needed: respondents rated their knowledge of how to cut greenhouse gas emissions highest of all knowledge items (3.62), yet only 55% correctly identified carbon dioxide as the main greenhouse gas emitted by humans. The wish to join community or environmental projects (3.87) was almost one point higher than actual participation (2.97). Awareness of SWU’s own sustainability policies and activities was the weakest knowledge item (2.84). The barriers most often reported were practical: too few waste-sorting points and other facilities on campus (48%), little information about sustainability activities (44%), lack of time because of study or work (39%) and not knowing where to start (31%).

The results point to four priority areas, which are submitted to the relevant units for consideration in planning for the 2025–2026 academic year:

• communicating SWU’s sustainability policies and activities more widely to students and staff;

• strengthening environmental literacy, especially on greenhouse gases and wastewater;

• helping people turn positive attitudes into everyday practice, for example through better waste-sorting facilities; and

• introducing SDG content earlier for students who have not yet taken SWU 196, and offering SDG learning to staff.

Figure 12. Screenshots of the SWU Sustainability Literacy Assessment online form (top to bottom): the consent page, the status question in Part 1, which directs students and staff to separate sections, and the first questions of Parts 2, 3 and 4.

Source: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1D-TZOutWGecj_u9M3K5v7kW6-9VK25DGX_lvvOcvSFM/previewResponse

Selected results of the 2025 assessment are presented below (Figures 13–16).

Figure 13. Key figures of the SWU Sustainability Literacy Assessment 2025: respondents by status and distribution of knowledge levels.

Figure 14. Mean knowledge score by dimension (out of 5), students and staff.

Figure 15. Barriers to sustainable action (multiple answers allowed).

Figure 16. Priority areas for improvement, 2025–2026.

Source: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSefGWh0wnUCBfpEbxu8DOuoXx5r6sWXRDgcHqyr3hUuK3OBxQ/viewform

Conclusion

By embedding SDG-aligned learning outcomes in every faculty's curriculum, grounding them in university policy and the curriculum review cycle, requiring every undergraduate to study the SDGs through the compulsory "SWU for Society" course set, offering dedicated sustainability programmes and general education courses, promoting student engagement with communities, and measuring the sustainability literacy of students and staff every year, SWU strengthens its commitment to providing meaningful, relevant, and practical SDG education for students across the university. This integrated approach helps students connect their academic disciplines with the global goals and develop the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to a more just and sustainable society. By measuring sustainability literacy every year and using the results to improve teaching, student activities and campus services, SWU also supports SDG Target 4.7, which calls for all learners to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.