University-wide curriculum guidance and compulsory Conservation Education provide a shared foundation, while projects and digital monitoring help students apply their learning.
SEMARANG, Indonesia — Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) strengthened its institutional commitment to sustainability education in 2025 through a university-wide curriculum framework, compulsory Conservation Education and practical activities that connect classroom learning with environmental and social responsibility.
The approach makes sustainability relevant to students across faculties and study programmes. It combines a shared educational foundation with opportunities to explore sustainability within different disciplines and apply conservation values through projects and everyday practices.
Establishing a University-Wide Commitment
UNNES formalised its curriculum direction through Rector Regulation No. 76 of 2025 on the Guidelines for Developing an Outcome-Based, Sustainable and Impactful Curriculum.
The regulation places sustainability within the institutional framework guiding curriculum development across the university. Within UNNES Curriculum 2025, sustainability is associated with long-term educational relevance, the Sustainable Development Goals and the university’s conservation identity.
This common direction provides a basis for study programmes to connect sustainability with their learning outcomes, professional contexts, research and student projects. It allows each discipline to address the environmental and social responsibilities relevant to its field.
Providing a Shared Foundation for All Students
A central part of this commitment is Conservation Education (Pendidikan Konservasi), which the official UNNES course plan describes as compulsory for all students.
The course provides a common foundation regardless of faculty or study programme. Its general-education approach introduces students to conservation values and their application to environmental, social and cultural responsibilities.
Learning topics include arts and cultural conservation, anti-corruption education, disaster education and sustainable-campus practices. Students also explore green infrastructure, green energy, climate change, water management, waste management and green transportation.
Through case-based learning and team-based projects, students examine practical problems and work together to develop responses. These methods connect sustainability concepts with situations students may encounter on campus, in their communities and in their future professions.
The breadth of the course makes conservation relevant across academic backgrounds, encompassing ethical conduct, cultural preservation, community responsibility and environmental care.
Connecting Sustainability with Disciplinary and Professional Needs
UNNES’s curriculum framework also supports study programmes in translating sustainability into discipline-specific learning.
On 24 June 2025, the Environmental Science Study Program at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences held a focus group discussion involving government agencies, environmental consultants, academics, nongovernmental organisations, industry practitioners and alumni.
Participants reviewed graduate competency needs and discussed low-carbon and climate-resilient development, circular economy approaches, the triple planetary crisis, community empowerment, natural-resource conservation and environmental policy.
The discussion provided input for curriculum development by connecting academic content with environmental challenges and professional expectations. It offered one documented example of how the university’s common sustainability direction can be interpreted within a particular field.
Engaging Students Across Faculties
The university reinforced this educational approach through activities involving students from different disciplines.
On 18 March 2025, the UNNES Conservation Sub-Directorate convened a focus group discussion on aligning conservation values and character, with student representatives from every faculty.
Participants discussed how conservation could be applied in academic and non-academic settings. Topics included greening, waste management, energy efficiency and environmental innovation.
The forum enabled students to exchange perspectives and consider how shared conservation values could guide their activities. Cross-faculty participation helped connect these values with the varied experiences and interests of the university’s student community.
From learning to action: SiOMON connects education with measurable practice
UNNES also supports practical environmental responsibility through SiOMON (Sistem Informasi Penanaman dan Perawatan Pohon), its official tree-planting and maintenance information system.
The 2025 SiOMON guide, issued by the Natural Resources and Environment Section of the UNNES Conservation Sub-Directorate, connects the activity with the MyUNNES-Student platform.
Students can record planting data, geotagged locations, photographs, tree conditions and periodic maintenance updates. This provides a means of documenting conservation activities and following the condition of planted trees over time.
The process encourages students to take responsibility for both planting and continued care. Recording locations and updating maintenance information gives practical substance to the environmental responsibilities introduced through conservation learning.
UNNES has long linked student tree planting with academic progression. The 2025 guide documents the continuing digital mechanism used to record and monitor this activity.
Photo caption: SiOMON enables students to document tree planting, locations, conditions and follow-up care through MyUNNES-Student.
Making Sustainability Relevant and Applicable
UNNES’s approach connects institutional policy with learning and practical participation. The curriculum regulation establishes a university-wide direction, while compulsory Conservation Education provides a shared foundation for all students.
Study programmes can develop that foundation within their respective disciplines. Case discussions, team projects and cross-faculty activities offer opportunities to examine sustainability challenges, while SiOMON supports documented conservation practice.
Through these connected measures, UNNES demonstrates a commitment to meaningful sustainability education across the university—education that students can relate to their academic fields, apply in daily life and carry into their future professional and community roles.
