The three-year collaboration, Future21: Multidisciplinary Socio-Ecological Education in South Africa for Sustainability, brings together seven institutions from South Africa, Finland and Norway to redesign teaching and learning around real-world socio-ecological challenges — from climate resilience to natural resource management.
Officially launched on 1 January this year, it was recently introduced during an online soft launch.
Rather than treating sustainability as a niche field, the project seeks to embed it across disciplines, equipping graduates with the systems-thinking skills required to navigate complex environmental, economic and social pressures.
A strategic project for George Campus and beyond
Dr Tatenda Mapeto, Lecturer in Forest Management in the Department of Forestry within the Natural Resource Science and Management (NRSM) Cluster at George Campus, and lead project manager of Future21, describes the initiative as both locally grounded and globally connected.
The project is housed within the NRSM Cluster, positioning George Campus as a hub for innovation in sustainability-focused education.
“This is about rethinking how we teach and learn in ways that respond directly to the socio-ecological realities facing our communities,” she says.
“We want to ensure that graduates are not only academically prepared, but capable of working across disciplines to address complex sustainability challenges.”
The project’s influence extends across the institution and into the broader higher education landscape.
It aims to strengthen collaboration between universities, industry and communities, ensuring that academic programmes remain responsive to regional development needs, says Dr Mapeto.
For the Eastern and Western Cape provinces — where environmental sustainability is closely linked to agriculture, forestry, tourism and natural resource management — the initiative holds relevance. By aligning education with the emerging green economy, the project will contribute to longer-term livelihood resilience in the region, she says.
From theory to practice: reimagining sustainability education
Future21 focuses on integrating socio-ecological systems thinking into curricula, teaching methodologies and institutional practices. This includes developing new learning materials, revising existing modules and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration among staff and students.
Dr Mapeto explains that many sustainability challenges cannot be solved within a single discipline.
“Climate change, food security, water scarcity and biodiversity loss are interconnected issues. Our teaching needs to reflect that interconnectedness,” she said.
She believes students enrolled in Future21-aligned programmes will experience something fundamentally different from a traditional university course.
“Rather than completing assignments within the boundaries of a single discipline, they will engage with real problems that require drawing simultaneously on ecology, social science, policy, economics, and business thinking,” she says.
“They will work alongside mentors from industry, government, and civil society, people who navigate these intersections every day. They will encounter the complexity, ambiguity, and competing interests that characterise real decisions in the green economy, rather than the controlled certainty of textbook scenarios.”
The emphasis, she adds, is on participatory, problem-based learning that prepares students for real-world decision-making.
International collaboration with local impact
The project is supported by €800 000 (approximately R16 million) in funding from the European Union, underscoring international recognition of the need to strengthen sustainability education partnerships between Africa and Europe.
Dr Mapeto says that while the funding and partnerships are international, the project’s foundation is firmly rooted in South African realities.
“We are working to ensure that global sustainability frameworks are adapted in ways that make sense for local communities and ecosystems.”
By combining international expertise with local knowledge, the initiative aims to strengthen institutional capacity while contributing to national and continental conversations about sustainable development.
Soft launch signals momentum
The recent online soft launch brought together academic partners and stakeholders to formally introduce the project and outline its objectives for the next three years.
Speakers reflected on the strategic importance of sustainability-focused education in shaping future-ready graduates and responsive institutions. The launch also provided an opportunity to map the project’s work packages and implementation timelines.
The speakers were Dr Mapeto; Dr Kaluke Mawila, Senior Director and Executive Head of George Campus; Prof Josua Louw, Director of School of Natural Resource Science and Management; Dr Ratsodo Tshidzumba, University of Mpumalanga; Norman Dlamini, Forestry South Africa; Dr Bianca Currie, UNESCO Garden Route Biosphere Reserve; Marie-Tinka Uys, UNESCO Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve; Dr Eija Laitinen, Häme University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and Dr Vladimir Naumov of Inland Norway University (Evenstad Campus).
Strengthening Mandela University’s sustainability mission
Future21 aligns closely with Nelson Mandela University’s broader commitment to engaged scholarship and service to society.
By embedding sustainability more deeply into teaching and learning, the project reinforces the institution’s role as a responsive, future-focused university that addresses pressing societal challenges, says Dr Mapeto.
For George Campus in particular, the initiative strengthens its position as a leader in natural resource science and sustainability education — areas central to the economic and environmental future of the Garden Route and wider Eastern Cape region.
“Our goal is institutional change,” she says. “We want sustainability thinking to become part of how we design curricula, conduct research and engage with communities.”
As global and local pressures intensify — from climate instability to economic inequality — initiatives such as Future21 aim to ensure that higher education remains not only relevant, but transformative.