Interdisciplinary education

This chapter demonstrates how a higher education course can be structured to foster future knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) that are essential for addressing real-world sustainability challenges in the built environment and real estate sector, in line with the Triple Bottom Line and ISO 26000. Using the interdisciplinary “Renewable Energies” course at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences as a case study, it shows how project-based, practice-oriented, and interdisciplinary learning – combined with scientific writing, collaborative group processes, and rigorous presentation assessment before academic and industry experts – develops students’ systems thinking, problem-solving, communication, and reflective abilities. By engaging students in real life renewable energies projects, the course enables them to integrate key success factors for sustainable built environments: economic viability and cost-benefit analysis, energy efficiency and carbon reduction, social equity, stakeholder engagement, and user well-being. Technical, economic, legal, and social dimensions are addressed holistically within diverse teams, supported by digital tools and iterative feedback. Actionable recommendations are provided for designing competence-oriented courses, including strategies for assessment and quality assurance. The chapter concludes by discussing how the Interdisciplinary Studium Generale (ISG) approach and the “Renewable Energies” course can serve as a transferable blueprint for sustainability education in real estate and the built environment.