Last chance to study this subject for 2025—enrol by 20 July
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Introduction to Sustainable Development
UndergraduateMUR-SUS1002025
Discover how sustainability has developed as a concept over the last four decades. Dig into the political economy of sustainability. Test the effectiveness of various approaches to sustainability in battling global sustainability problems.
Enrol today with instant approval and no entry requirements
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 20 July 2025
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Start dates
- 24 Feb 2025,
- 28 July 2025
- Price from
- $2,125
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Introduction to Sustainable Development
About this subject
On successful completion of the subject you should be able to:
- Evaluate how the idea of sustainability has changed and evolved over the last four decades;
- Identify key thinkers, events and publications in the history of sustainability;
- Critically reflect on the main approaches to sustainability today;
- Discuss the contestability of the sustainability concept
- Communicate clear arguments.
- Emerging global unsustainability
- Rise of the modern sustainability concept
- Sustainability: The state of play
- The role of government in achieving sustainability
- The market: Technology – Fixing Sustainability?
- The market: Business responses to sustainability
- The role of civil society in achieving sustainability
- North and South: Development perspectives
- Radical approaches to sustainability
- Contesting sustainability: The sceptics
- Contesting sustainability: The role of the media
- Conclusions: Approaching the future
NOTE: If you study this subject in Winter, the subject will be a shorter duration (5 weeks) and will require at least 20 hours of study per week.
This unit is a critical introduction to sustainability that traces the concept's evolution and explores how we can establish a more sustainable society. To this end, a range of different approaches to sustainability are introduced and compared, and analysis will be made of their respective effectiveness in addressing global sustainability problems, including reducing the impact humans have on the natural environment.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport.
- Concept map: Ecological footprint diagnostic (20%)
- Consultancy report (35%)
- Concept comprehension (25%)
- Group presentation (20%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
This research-based university in Perth has a strong interdisciplinary focus and a reputation for outstanding teaching and ground-breaking research. With more than 25,000 students and 2,400 staff from over 90 countries, and campuses in Dubai and Singapore, Murdoch embraces free thinking, shared ideas and knowledge to make a difference, and Open Universities Australia is certainly part of that.
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
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What to study next?
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UndergraduateMUR-BAR-DEG
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