Higher education curriculum for sustainability: Course contents analyses of purchasing and supply management programme of polytechnics in Ghana

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine the degree of attention to and the nature of sustainability issues in the curriculum of the Higher National Diploma (HND) Purchasing and Supply Management programme of Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

Documentary research is the approach used to analyse the curriculum document for the programme of study.

Findings

Findings of this study reveal a low presence of sustainability in the curriculum, and most of the sustainability sub-topics address issues of social justice, while economic sustainability issues feature the least.

Practical implications

Deliberate and greater efforts should be made to integrate sustainability in the curriculum; all three dimensions of sustainability need to be well represented in the teaching and learning experiences; and there should be training and sensitisation of all relevant stakeholders in issues of sustainability.

Originality/value

This study provides an analysis of a higher education curriculum in terms of attention given to sustainability and the nature of sustainability issues addressed therein. It sets the research agenda for the study of curricula of other programmes for sustainability, as research literature on higher education curricula for sustainability in Africa, especially Ghana, is scarce (GUNi et al., 2011).

Citation

Etse, D. and Ingley, C. (2016), "Higher education curriculum for sustainability: Course contents analyses of purchasing and supply management programme of polytechnics in Ghana", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 269-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2015-0121