Fostering Sustainability Competencies and Ethical Thinking in Higher Education: Case Sustainable Chocolate

The context of this empirical research is a hands-on sustainability project by an international group of students, teachers, and entrepreneurs. The aim is to find out what kind of sustainability competencies higher education students can develop in collaboration with university experts and companies, with special focus on students’ ethical thinking. The participants (n=35) represented 15 different nationalities and came from diverse disciplinary backgrounds including international business, marketing and communication, applied languages, ICT, tourism, and journalism. The data were gathered via students’ learning journals. Based on a theory-driven content analysis of the journal data, the students gained competencies related to systemic curiosity, ethical commitment, moral vision, creative readiness, collaborative acumen, reflective learning, and hands-on change communication. The results underline that Education for Sustainable Development in higher education has fruitful outcomes when it is action-oriented, linking formal with informal learning, supportive of self-directed learning, participatory and collaborative, and embracing transformative pedagogy. To enhance students’ reflective and metacognitive abilities, they should be offered theoretical materials and pedagogical guidance to gain deeper conceptual insight into sustainability competencies and ethical thinking. This could support fostering their ethical understanding of the complexities of sustainability challenges and bolster their courage to implement their competencies with more confidence and impact