Lessons learned from developing a climate master’s programme

The document details the development of a climate change and sustainable development master's curriculum by a consortium of 23 academics from six universities in southern Africa. It identifies key pedagogical and operational challenges, recommending early alignment on curriculum principles, pilot testing of templates, and increased face-to-face collaboration to overcome the frustrations of virtual communication. The process resulted in a Curriculum Framework, a curriculum consisting of seven modules, and supporting courseware, which were praised by external experts for their logic and explicit learning outcomes.

• The project identified several pedagogical and structural improvements for future curriculum development, including the need for an early full-team workshop to establish a shared understanding of pedagogical principles and the 'language of curriculum development', as academics often intuitively practice teaching without formal alignment of activities with outcomes.
• Operational efficiency could have been improved by using a single high-capacity pilot team to test the Teaching-Learning-Assessment template on a first module to reduce iterations, and by securing early approval of the curriculum's structure and content to prevent gaps and overlaps.
• While virtual communication was often 'fraught with frustration' and 'unsatisfactory', face-to-face workshops were highly valuable for real work and collaboration, suggesting that module teams should meet in person more frequently.
• Effective project management requires module leaders to have an explicit mandate to reallocate roles and costs to manage the high workloads and competing priorities of academic contributors.
• The collaborative co-production process provided indirect benefits to participants, including relationship building across regional divisions, growth in subject expertise through cross-fertilisation, and exposure to new academic resources.

APA

Ashburner, L. (n.d.). Lessons learned from developing a climate master’s programme. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/story/feature-climate-masters-programme

Chicago

Ashburner, Leslie. Lessons learned from developing a climate master’s programme. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, n.d. https://cdkn.org/story/feature-climate-masters-programme.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ashburner |first1=Leslie |title=Lessons learned from developing a climate master’s programme |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |url=https://cdkn.org/story/feature-climate-masters-programme |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ashburnerndlessons, author = {Ashburner, Leslie}, title = {{Lessons learned from developing a climate master’s programme}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, url = {https://cdkn.org/story/feature-climate-masters-programme}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }