Growth in sustainable degrees

We first saw this article a couple of years ago in USA Today, and the trend continues to grow and grow rapidly.  A positive for the college students is that jobs in the green economy are expanding and keeping up with their influx to the work force.

This Wed's night we are filming five shows on sustainable changes in education:  From facilities (schools) to curriculums to staffing to amazing innovations taking place in our school systems.  We will premier those shows in Dec.

College students are flocking to sustainability degrees, careers

"Students interested in pursuing a job in sustainability now can choose from a variety of "green" degree programs.

With an increased interest in the environment and growth in the "green collar" job sector, colleges and universities are beginning to incorporate sustainability into their programs. From MBAs in sustainable-business practices to programs that give students the technical training necessary to operate wind turbines, students have an increasing array of options to choose from.

"Clearly, demand is there for these types of workers," says Marisa Michaud of Eduventures, a higher-education research and consulting firm. "Colleges are seeing that, and they want to provide appropriate educational programs to meet that demand."

Concern for the environment is the motivation, says Julian Dautremont-Smith of the Association for Sustainability in Higher Education.

"The past few years, society as a whole has become increasingly interested in sustainability," he says. "Higher education has been swept up as well."

David Soto of The Princeton Review says student interest is driving colleges to create programs that offer training in sustainability. Two-thirds of students surveyed for the company's recent "College Hopes and Worries" survey said a college's "environmental commitment" would be a factor in where they applied.

"Students are really savvy shoppers these days, so they're realizing, with a changing economy and green jobs looking to take a leap within the next couple of years, that they want to be armed with those types of skills," Soto says.

Green — not greed — is good

One popular program is an MBA that teaches skills for operating sustainable businesses.

A University of Pennsylvania program that started this year lets students earn an MBA and a master's in environmental studies at the same time.

"There's an increasing interest among businesses to take the environment seriously," says Eric Orts, director of the Wharton School's Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership at Penn.

"Our take is you really need to have the science background and some other approaches that are not normally taught in the business school context," he says..."