Overall Rating Platinum
Overall Score 92.73
Liaison Emmanuelle Jodoin
Submission Date Oct. 24, 2022

STARS v2.2

Université de Sherbrooke
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Jean-François Comeau
Director, Project for the Integration of Sustainable Development in Education
Office of the Vice-President, Academic
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Does the institution have an ongoing program that offers incentives for academic staff in multiple disciplines or departments to develop new sustainability courses and/or incorporate sustainability into existing courses? :
Yes

A brief description of the incentive program(s):
The Université de Sherbrooke offers its faculty members a fund to promote the quality of training at all levels, including continuing education, and thereby encourage and support pedagogical innovation.

It is in this context that the Fonds d'innovation pédagogique (FIP) [EN: Pedagogical Innovation Fund] has made sustainable development and eco-citizenship one of the priority themes of the Université de Sherbrooke's academic development.

The program offers incentives for academic staff, regardless of their discipline or department, to incorporate sustainability into existing courses or develop new sustainability courses. The program aims to increase students’ learning about sustainability relatively to their discipline or future professional practice.

As an example of an outcome of this program, a new undergraduate course on eco-citizenship (3 credits) has been developed in 2021-2022 and will soon be available to every student of the Université de Sherbrooke. All content of this new course will be available as “open educational resources.”

Another example is a project supported by the Program in 2020-2021 allowing the development of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) self-learning modules in responsible finance simulations at the Business School.

PEDAGOGICAL ADVISOR FOR THE INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In 2010, the Université de Sherbrooke introduced a pedagogical advisor for the integration of sustainable development to its professional staff, whose main responsibility is to provide pedagogical support for the integration of sustainable development in teaching within the institution.

The main functions and expertise of this pedagogical advisor are specifically aimed at providing the training and support necessary to integrate sustainable development in the many disciplines, courses, and departments at the Université de Sherbrooke by offering services such as:
• Consulting support for the integration of sustainable development in teaching
• Promotion of good practices (publications, organization of symposia, workshops, and events) related to sustainable development in higher education
• Project management and communications in sustainable development
• Writing for the blog L'éveilleur [EN: The Awakener] of the Service de soutien à la formation (SSF) [EN: Training Support Services], as well as in its Perspectives newsletter
• Monitoring of sustainable development in higher education

DIRECTOR, PROJECT FOR THE INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATION

In addition, in early 2022, the Office of the Vice-President, Academic, hired a Director, Project for the Integration of Sustainable Development in Education. The mandate of this newly hired director is to develop and coordinate an institutional strategy to increase sustainability in the curriculum. This strategy will be conducted by working with faculty members and program officials over the next three years.

A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
The FIP offers financial and educational support as needed. Professionals and faculty members across the University are regularly invited to participate in the program, which offers the opportunity to receive a variety of benefits such as funds, release time, and training.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the incentives for developing sustainability course content is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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