Over 800 students at Bristol were among the first to take a new test of ‘sustainability literacy’ that is being officially launched this month at the UNESCO World Conference on Sustainable Development in Nagoya, Japan.

The University of Bristol, as a partner in the launch, was one of a select group of institutions across the world to invite all of its students to take part in the test’s first phase. Over 18,000 students from the launch institutions across four continents took the test; the Bristol cohort was among the largest from a single institution in this initial phase.

The questions covered topics such as the principles of sustainable development, social and economic trends, and human rights issues. Questions were designed to reflect national as well as global agendas to minimise bias towards particular approaches and priorities, and were developed in partnership with national teams. User feedback will be incorporated into the second phase of the test, which will launched in June 2015.

Bristol’s participation in the test has acted as a catalyst for other UK Higher Education Institutions to agree to take part in the test. It has also given the University a baseline for students’ understanding of sustainable development, and is helping to inform the development of the Education for Sustainable Development curriculum.