Current status of green curriculum in higher education of Mainland China

Providing environmental education in colleges and universities is a major strategy to cope with the mounting pressure of environmental problems that come with the rapid economy development in China. However, the provision of environmental studies and the incorporation of environmental protection and sustainable development into the academic curricula have not been reported. Here, we analyzed the curricula of 267 out of 810 public universities and colleges in China- a sample of 30% from each of the 12 different types (China's universities are categorized 12 types as agriculture, forestry, engineering, comprehensive colleges, education, ethnic study, medicine, economics, law, arts, language and sports). The results showed that 19.47% of the sampled institutions failed to establish a comprehensive environmental education framework; the education is “greener” in agriculture- and forestry-based institutions, while those focus on sports, art and linguistics are less successful in addressing environmental problems; the institutions funded by the Ministry of Education provide relatively “greener” education than those funded by local and provincial governments. Moreover, the institutions located in underdeveloped areas are less concerned with environmental education than those in more developed area, as reflected by their academic curricula. The level of environmental education is also significantly higher in the “Project 985” universities (the top 39 universities in the country) and the “Project 211” universities (the top 116 universities in the country) than any other universities. The number of textbooks published that address environmental issues showed an increase between year 2005 and 2010, but less significantly in literature, philosophy and education-related textbooks. Our results indicate that environmental education needs to be improved in most of the institutions of higher education in China, and it should be systematically assessed and improved to meet the nation's rising demands in sustainable development, nature and resource conservation.