UN SDGs Incorporated Into UM Asper Co-Op Curriculum

Students in the I.H. Asper School of Business Co-Op Program learn about, set learning objectives related to, reflect on, and take action to advance the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals during their work term.

Call to Action

The Asper School of Business is comitted to preparing students to be not only socially minded but active, ethical contributors to the well-being of their communities. We bring this commitment to life in part through an initiative to incorporate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into our co-op curriculum.

This program began when one of our co-op program coordinators, Holly Klann, learned about a school that focused a student’s international co-op placement in Thailand around the SDG of clean water and sanitation. She admired this approach to work-integrated learning, as it offered both a unique career development opportunity and an avenue to create positive social impact.

It struck Klann that the SDGs could be applied to every discipline and every industry, whether their co-op placement was abroad or here at home. Klann recognized the potential of co-ops to familiarize students with the SDGs and create a bias toward action. Students don’t have to wait until they are mid-career or in senior roles to advance the SDGs; they can have impact starting with their very first work placement.

Incorporating the SDGs into the co-op curriculum aligned with the university’s commitment to sustainability as well as with the Asper School’s mission, strategic priorities, and core values. More important, it created a work-integrated opportunity for students to live out those values, and a way for students to make their first commitment to sustainability as a careerlong habit.

Innovation Details

Asper’s co-op students learn about, set learning objectives related to, reflect on, and take action to advance the U.N. SDGs as part of the mandatory for-credit course associated with the co-op program. To start, students are provided with resources to learn about the 17 SDGs and the impact individual action can have toward meeting them. They are then asked to identify and discuss their personal learning objectives related to the SDGs in their Learning Objectives Report. Students apply these SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals to their own learning over the course of their work term.

Students then begin their work placement and are encouraged to take action in the workplace by learning about how the organization furthers one or more of the 17 SDGs and how their role can contribute to these efforts. They are coached to engage with colleagues and their leaders about their organization’s sustainability practices and policies. The co-op office informs each employer at the outset that this is one component of the student’s learning while on placement. Students are encouraged to participate in their organization’s established efforts, or to lead a new initiative, related to one or more of the SDGs.

At the end of the work term, students complete a Work Term Report where they reflect on their experiences, evaluate their learning, and review their personal and organizational effectiveness in meeting their chosen SDG(s).

Innovation Impact

Each year, more than 250 Asper undergraduate and graduate students complete a co-op work term. By incorporating SDGs into the curriculum, these students reflect on ways they and their organization can create positive change and collectively respond to the global challenges addressed by the SDGs. Co-op students take entry-level roles that are typically four months long, but this initiative builds the mindset that action toward the SDGs can and must occur at every level of an organization, and at every stage of a student’s career path.

Students seek out actions that are feasible for their role and organization. The commitments students make could be as small-scale as initiating conversations with a leader about the organization’s sustainable development initiatives. However, in many cases, students go further and take specific action. One student initiated a paper waste reduction project in their organization in response to SDG 12, responsible consumption and production. Another participated in their organization’s wellness program, acting on SDG 3, health and well-being.

Encouraging students to take small actions reinforces the fact that they don’t have to wait to be a senior leader before taking on global challenges. This initiative helps Asper students develop an opportunity mindset and instills in them the notion that they can lead at all levels. Students learn that even in entry-level roles, they can be a force for good. Ninety percent of co-op students report that incorporating the SDGs into the curriculum empowered them to mobilize positive change.