Semarang, Indonesia – Representatives from six universities across Indonesia participated in a workshop on February 19, 2025, focusing on the review and revision of Eco-Green sustainability curricula. The event, titled "The External Review on Curricula of EcoGreen-Indonesia University Partners: Follow Up for Future Planning," was held at Universitas Katolik Soegijapranata in Semarang and involved participants attending both online and in person.


The workshop is part of a larger partnership initiative between Indonesian universities and institutions in the European Union, funded by an Erasmus grant. The project, spanning from January to February 2025 for this phase, aims to enhance higher education capacity in addressing sustainability challenges through innovative and collaborative curriculum development. The six participating Indonesian universities are Universitas Katolik Soegijapranata, Universitas Parahyangan, Universitas Surabaya, Universitas Wahid Hasyim, Universitas Trisakti, and Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta. These universities form the EcoGreen consortium.

This review activity was a key target achievement for the second year of the Erasmus grant. In 2024, the consortium universities conducted benchmarking activities with two European partner universities, Hasselt University (HU) and Wageningen University and Research (WUR), along with student exchanges, workshops on developing sustainable curricula, and drafting semester learning plans (RPS). The goal for the second year was to obtain critical and constructive feedback to improve the quality of learning planning and assessment.

The curriculum review process involved external experts with backgrounds in education and curriculum. Markus Budiraharjo, Ed.D., served as one of the key resource persons, alongside Ir. Rossana Dewi, a sustainability practitioner. The review process entailed a systematic analysis of 34 RPS documents previously prepared by the six universities, a process that took one month. The analysis results were presented using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) framework.

The external review was guided by an Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) perspective, with a specific focus on achieving stated learning outcomes. A central approach used was the five core principles of Project-Based Learning (PjBL), including the integration of Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), emphasizing students' choice and voice, implementing formative assessments, facilitating long-duration integrated learning, and requiring the publication of project products for public access. The analysis indicated that most RPS documents optimally integrated PLOs and CLOs, a crucial step in OBE.

Key findings and inputs from the review highlighted three main areas for improvement: The importance of increasing lecturer reflexivity to maintain student motivation and encourage critical thinking. The need for further elaboration in implementing project-based learning. The potential for exploring interdisiplinarity, changes in curriculum governance, and optimizing relevant learning resources.

The review identified several strengths among the participating universities, including a strong foundation in sustainability teaching, diverse approaches aligned with disciplinary strengths, practical application through case studies and engagement with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UMKM), a commitment to effective pedagogy, and alignment with the Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi. Opportunities include leveraging benchmarking with European universities like Hasselt and Wageningen, adopting frameworks like the European Competence Framework on Sustainability (GreenComp), developing interdisciplinary courses, expanding UMKM involvement in academia, enhancing curriculum quality, utilizing the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) program for student exchange, and conducting joint research projects.

However, the universities also face significant challenges. These include varying levels of sustainability integration and implementation, the absence of a clear "green campus" concept at some institutions like Universitas Wahid Hasyim (UNWAHAS), rigid curriculum structures at universities such as Soegijapranata Catholic University (SCU), limited inter-university and external collaboration, difficulty in changing the mindset and awareness of the academic community, challenges in encouraging UMKM involvement in sustainable practices, constraints related to limited resources and funding, potential resistance to change, and the need to adapt to evolving government policies and digital technology advancements in areas like living labs. Specific challenges during the workshop process included differing approaches across universities, time limitations for detailed discussions, and anticipated difficulties in implementing recommendations due to resource constraints.

Despite these challenges, the workshop successfully provided valuable guidance for developing sustainability-based curricula. Participants demonstrated a high level of commitment in responding to the recommendations. The activity underscored the importance of both incremental personal change and systemic institutional change in curriculum development.

Following the review, each university was tasked with developing implementation strategies based on the specific recommendations received. The target is for each Indonesian partner university to revise their 34 learning plans and assessments by the third week of March 2025. The subsequent target for the third year of the Erasmus grant is the development of 10 teaching modules reflecting the revised sustainability curriculum. The event received institutional support from the six universities, guidance from EU higher education

experts, active participation from lecturers and curriculum developers, and facilities provided by Soegijapranata Catholic University. The collaboration between Indonesian and EU universities is seen as a significant contribution to improving curriculum quality for sustainable higher education.