Partnerships for the Goals
Education for SDGs: Specific Courses on Sustainability
The University of Newcastle offers a suite of dedicated courses, both full degrees and electives, that address sustainability and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2025, students could explore sustainability through specialised environmental degrees, defined majors and discipline-specific coursework in fields ranging from coastal ecosystems to tourism and the built environment.
The University’s sustainability curriculum inventory identifies courses with sustainability or SDG-related content that can contribute to degree programmes or elective study. Dedicated offerings are complemented by sustainability learning within professional programmes such as law, engineering and architecture.
Degree programmes and sustainability specialisations
The University provides undergraduate and postgraduate pathways for students seeking focused expertise in environmental science, sustainability, climate adaptation and natural resource management.
- Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management – Includes a Sustainability major, alongside climate science, ecosystems and marine science pathways. Its 2025 Sustainability major specified compulsory courses and directed choices including The Sustainable Society, Catchment and Water Resource Management and Surviving the Anthropocene.
- Bachelor of Coastal and Marine Science – Builds expertise in coastal and marine systems and includes environmental science study options addressing catchments, water resources and ecosystem management.
- Master of Environmental Management and Sustainability – A specialist postgraduate qualification incorporating environmental legislation, sustainability and ecosystem health, environmental management, and climate-change policy.
- Graduate Certificate in Environmental Management and Sustainability – Provides postgraduate study in sustainability theory, environmental ethics, ecosystem health, resilience and environmental management.
- Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Business Management – Connects environmental-management concepts with business decision-making and sustainability practice. Its availability for new enrolments can vary.
Other degrees identified in the University’s sustainability study pathways include the Bachelor of Development Studies and Bachelor of Science. These offer complementary disciplinary routes, with the extent of dedicated sustainability content depending on the selected programme, major and courses.
Dedicated sustainability courses delivered in 2025
Official 2025 course outlines provide dated examples of degree-related sustainability teaching across different disciplines and campuses:
- ENVS3006 – Surviving the Anthropocene: Sustainability in the 21st Century. Callaghan, Semester 1 2025. Students critically examined sustainable development, ethical and non-Western perspectives, sustainability indicators and responses to challenges involving cities, food, consumption and waste.
- MARI3500 – Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture. Callaghan and Ourimbah, Semester 1 2025. This course examined fisheries and aquaculture systems, environmental impacts and ecosystem-based management strategies.
- ENVS2009 – Catchment and Water Resource Management. Callaghan and Ourimbah, Semester 2 2025. Students undertook field and laboratory work assessing water quality, aquatic ecosystems and catchment-management approaches.
- THHE1002 – Sustainable Tourism Systems. Newcastle City, Semester 2 2025. This course used economic, environmental, social and cultural analysis to examine tourism sustainability and explicitly linked tourism with the UN SDGs.
Sustainability within degree structures
The 2025 Sustainability major in the Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management provides a clear example of formally catalogued study. It required 20 units of compulsory courses, together with directed study spanning social development, ecological management, environmental economics, climate resilience and sustainable fisheries.
The 2025 Sustainability major handbook lists ENVS3006 and MARI3500 among its upper-level directed options, connecting academic programme requirements with the dated 2025 course outlines above.
The University’s original curriculum examples also name Sustainable Development and the 2030 Development Agenda and Performance of Sustainability and the Built Environment. These illustrate the broader intended range of SDG-focused study, although their individual 2025 teaching schedules have not been independently established.
CIFAL Newcastle and supplementary SDG learning
Alongside degree-related courses, CIFAL Newcastle provides SDG-focused training developed in the UNITAR network. Its educational offerings include Global Citizenship and Sustainable Development Responsibility, Sustainable Development Goals and Global Agenda: Vision and Key Opportunities, and Business and Agenda 2030: Value and Engagement. These explore global citizenship, the 2030 Agenda, sustainability leadership and the practical implementation of SDGs within organisations and communities.
These short programmes broaden opportunities to learn about sustainable development but are distinct from the University’s credit-bearing degree subjects. They are therefore supplementary to the dedicated degree and course examples above.
Learning for sustainable futures
The University’s sustainability study portfolio reflects four interconnected focus areas established in 2024: global health and wellbeing; equity, Indigenous knowledge and transformative education; climate adaptation and clean futures; and sustainable cities and communities. These themes help connect specialised course content with practical challenges facing the region and the wider world.
The University of Newcastle combines dedicated sustainability qualifications, catalogued majors and 2025-delivered courses to help students develop knowledge and skills for environmental and social challenges. Its degree pathways and complementary SDG training support graduates and lifelong learners to apply sustainability principles in their chosen fields.
Our focus areas
We have developed four new focus areas of work which we are committed to in 2024.
Sustainable Development Goals reports
Our commitment towards the Sustainable Development Goals in action.
UNITAR - United Nations Institute for Training and Research 4:03
UNITAR
Established in 1963, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is an autonomous body. It focuses on enhancing UN effectiveness and national impact through training and education.
UNITAR assists developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and vulnerable groups.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.