As part of the Studium Oecologicum (ecological studies) initiated by the student initiative "Greening the University" Tanja Srebotnjak from Ecologic Institute gave a two-day seminar on measuring sustainability - conceptual foundations and indicators at the University of Tübingen. A total of 18 students representing a broad variety of disciplines and subject areas registered for the seminar and thereby earned not only coveted ECTS credits but also learned some useful facts about the sustainability debate, what it means to be sustainable and how it can be measured. Practical applications and local sustainability indicators featured prominently in the seminar so as to encourage and empower the students to see and promote sustainable behavior at the University and in their communities.

In 18 hours the students learned about the history of the term sustainability, different definitions and conceptual approaches of measuring it as well as about the systematic design and testing of indicators. Individual and group interactive work sessions translated the theory into practice and brought sustainability into the lecture hall.