The EWUU alliance offers “packages” — sets of elective courses that students can take. Each package provides a unique opportunity for students to benefit from the complementary expertise of the partner institutions, all focused on a specific topic.

Sustainability Transitions in Past and Present Package

Sustainability transitions pose some of the most urgent challenges to societies today, as well as in the (distant) past. Transitions in energy systems, food production, the use of natural resources, or the shift from agrarian to urban and industrial societies always play out over longer spans of time. Current debates on sustainability challenges and proposed transitions benefit greatly from professionals who understand history deeply and can compare developments across long periods of time.

This package equips students with skills to analyze various types of sustainability transitions in a temporal (intergenerational) framework. By examining transitions in depth and comparing different methodological and theoretical approaches, students will learn to untangle complexity and synthesize diverse perspectives.

Students will:

• Gain knowledge of dynamic models linking environmental, demographic, economic, political, and technological forces.
• Explore key concepts such as path dependence, resource curse, carrying capacity, and tipping points.
• Apply their learning to real cases through written reports, scenario modeling, and case-based games.
• Actively engage with them through hands-on cases, written reports scenario-modelling and case-based games.

Students can choose how many courses they want to take from the package:

• 2025–2026: 4 courses (23.5 credits) from November–June
• 2026–2027: 2 additional courses will be available in the first semester (with a total of 24.5 credits)

Overview electives and registration links

Course	Institution scheduling deadlines	Registration period	Students TU/e Registration	Students WUR Registration	Students UMCU Registration
ENP23806 Sustainability Transitions: Past, Present and Future	27 October – 21 December (WUR)	Open until 28 September	Via EduXchange	Via Osiris	Via EduXchange
0SV10 Sustainable Technology in Society: Introduction	10 November – 18 January (TU/e)	Open until 12 October	Via Osiris	Via EduXchange	Via EduXchange
GE3V22008 Made in Holland: Global Dutch Enterprises from VOC to Shell	2 February – 3 April (UU)	3 – 21 November	Via EduXchange	Via EduXchange	Via Osiris
0SV150 International Development and Sustainability	20 April – 21 June (TU/e)	15 November – 22 March	Via Osiris	Via EduXchange	Via EduXchange