Integrating Sustainability Education into the Information Systems Curricula? Perspectives from Information Systems Academics in Australian Universities

The role of information systems (IS) in sustainability has increased, and so has the demand for sustainability skills and competencies as organisations and people pursue sustainable ways of operating and living for the planet, the plants, the people, and the profit. Educational institutions are critical in enabling sustainable development as they provide learning environments for sustainability education. Universities worldwide are integrating sustainability education into curricula to enable learners to develop essential sustainability competencies for various industries. The IS curricula fall short of a clear agenda for integrating sustainability education to develop the essential skills and competencies for sustainable design and use of IS. Yet, the IS discipline lays the foundation for rethinking diverse information technologies (IT) in organisations and the everyday lives of individuals and groups. We propose a critical research study investigating how IS academics integrate sustainability education into the current IS curricula, how those integrations are mapped to SDGs and the ESG framework, and the targeted sustainability competencies essential for IS practice. The proposed study is intended to guide the integration of sustainability education in IS curricula in universities and develop critical sustainability competencies for future IS professionals.