Co-creating change: community-engaged Work-Integrated Learning for sustainable development in higher education

Abstract

This paper presents a multi-case study of how community-based Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) can meaningfully embed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) education into undergraduate curricula. Drawing on four marketing and public relations subjects, we examine how the deliberate alignment of authentic industry and community challenges with specific SDGs creates learning contexts that develop professional competencies alongside sustainability mindsets. Across the four cases, community partners are positioned as co-educators within a three-way partnership model involving students, educators, and industry, enabling a form of knowledge co-creation that neither classroom instruction nor community engagement alone can replicate. Examining the design, delivery and outcomes of each case, we identify three features that account for their effectiveness: the explicit mapping of partner challenges to relevant SDGs, the positioning of partners as co-educators rather than clients, and the achievability of meaningful SDG integration within existing curriculum structures. We argue that these features constitute transferable design principles for educators across disciplines seeking to enhance both graduate employability and societal impact, and we consider the pedagogical and institutional conditions under which they can be sustained and scaled.