A Six-Dimensional Systemic Approach to Educational Management for Sustainable Development at the Graduate Level

Abstract

This article aims to propose a conceptual framework and a systemic approach for Educational Management for Sustainable Development at the graduate level. The study employs a conceptual synthesis method to generate new knowledge, consisting of four key steps: (1) systematic literature review, (2) concept clustering, (3) system integration, and (4) new knowledge construction. The synthesis results in a 6Dimensions or 6D Framework for Sustainable Development Education, comprising: 1) Direction (policy and strategic orientation), 2) Design (curriculum design), 3) Didactics (real-world learning approaches), 4) Development (faculty development and support systems), 5) Deployment (integration and implementation), and 6)Diagnosis (assessment and quality assurance) The framework can be applied by faculties or universities to advance graduate curriculum design through: 1) defining programme-level competencies, 2)aligning coursework, projects, and thesis into a coherent pipeline, 3) positioning real-world learning as the core of the curriculum, 4) establishing living labs and sustainability data platforms, and 5)implementing integrated assessment strategies. Furthermore, this study proposes a whole-institution approach that connects policy, curriculum, teaching, research, partnerships, and assessment into a unified system. Such integration enables graduate education to play a critical role in driving sustainable development within both universities and society.