Sustainability burnout is a challenge to integrating sustainability measures in HE?
HEIs are increasingly tasked with integrating sustainability measures into their curricula, research, and institutional practices. However, there are many challenges to this including limited time and resources, bureaucratic obstacles, and disciplinary silos (Jongbloed, B., 2023). Academics may perceive the sustainability integration as an added burden, marked by eco-anxiety (worry about environmental crises), frustration over slow institutional change, and the pressure to stay up-to-date with a rapidly evolving field. ACEEU’s entrepreneurial and engaged accreditations can foster an institutional commitment to sustainable, resilient, and burnout-resistant academic environments.
Projects
Ten of ACEEU’s current projects address sustainability in higher education! Learn more about how our European Projects Unit is developing tools, trainings, and strategies to help HEIs further sustainability.
ESG4SMEs designs an ESG Manager role for rural SMEs in the EU. It provides training, tools, and certification to boost sustainability skills, support green transitions, and strengthen rural economies through responsible business practices.
ECOThink equips VET learners with practical skills in sustainable design, life cycle assessment, and carbon footprinting, enabling them to create environmentally responsible products and processes that reduce impact and drive sustainable industrial innovation.
RISE UP empowers HEIs to address sustainability burnout by focusing on climate anxiety, building resilience, and fostering green skills, enabling students and educators to drive transformative, regenerative climate action across disciplines.
EDU4SDGs strengthens higher education’s role in achieving the SDGs by fostering empathy, emotional intelligence, and micro-credentials, upskilling learners to become socially responsible agents of sustainable change.
ACEEU’s accreditation and events provide HEIs with practical pathways for overcoming barriers to eco-agency. Our standards for education, research and third mission faciliate meaningful sustainability integration.
Transforming the HE landscape
Accreditation fosters universities to embed entrepreneurship across education, research, and external engagement, equipping students with future-ready skills that drive sustainable transformation. By reimagining learning, research, and third mission activities, students are enabled to become eco-agents, ready to address pressing environmental challenges and create lasting societal impact.
Join us at ACEEU’s EU Funding Workshop and Matchmaking in Prague, September 9–10. Strengthen your funding strategies through tools such as prompt libraries and collaboration templates. Connect with your future partners through networking and collaboration sessions, receptions, and dinner with the Forum community.
Each month, we share examples of ACEEU’s standards in action through Spotlight Magazine. Check out the latest articles to see how education and third mission activities can help HEIs tackle sustainability burnout!
Beyond Burnout
Dr. Carolina Quintero Rodriguez shares how RMIT transforms sustainability burnout into action through immersive, real-world, cross-cultural learning. This approach bridges awareness and agency, fostering resilience, innovation, and cultural change in higher education's climate journey.
NMIMS’ We Care: Civic Engagement internship, which turns sustainability challenges into real-world impact. Fostering empathy, resilience, and leadership, this initiative combats eco-fatigue and aims to strengthen community partnerships.
Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (ACEEU), Wilhelm Schickard Strasse, 14, Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia 48149, Germany
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