GLB courses include five mandatory interdisciplinary courses in each department’s curriculum in line with the AGU’s Socio-Technical University Education System and Design policy.
GLB 2XX was designed as a bundle of courses in that each facilitator defines a module according to their areas of expertise to fit the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each student in AGU is expected to have a more profound knowledge of two selected SDGs, one for the FALL and the other for the SPRING semesters. However, the important point is that we are not expecting students to specialize in the relevant SDG. Instead, they will engage with the subject to gather information on the global problem, thinking on it at both local and global levels, and producing ideas for applicable solutions through an interdisciplinary dialogue and achieve competencies such as teamwork while doing this.
GLB 203 – SDG 3: Good Health & Wellbeing
The course will focus on todays and future health concerns and solutions in the light of various perspectives. Health is one of the most important meters of sustainable development. Scientific breakthroughs in this topic improve life expectancy and quality. However, with increasing population, environmental challenges, new types of health issues are occurring. In SDG 3, students will be discussing topics that will challenge society in the future such as obesity, diabetes, vaccines, biomaterials, age-related diseases, personal & economical behaviors, emotions, attitudes and wellbeing. The course expects students to bring their disciplinary knowledge in conversation to advance treatment and prevention options to “ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing at all ages” (SDG3).
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20203.pdf
GLB 204 – SDG 4: Quality Education
This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) among the 17 SDGs established by the United Nations. Natures of problems targeted in SDG 4 are explored throughout the course. This interdisciplinary course explores and applies inclusive practices in diverse educational environments. It aims to empower students with the knowledge and skills to create inclusive learning spaces, fostering accessibility and reducing educational inequalities for all learners, including those with disabilities.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20204.pdf
GLB 205 – SDG 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities
This course aimed to develop tangible solutions for our world's urgent problems, including but not limited to refugee crises, integration problems, citizens’ attitudes towards immigrant communities, health impacts of transportation, sustainable transportation, planning of transportation systems, improving road safety, the effects of public transportation on public health, traffic-related air pollution and intelligent transportation systems. In the course, students from different disciplines are encouraged to conduct research individually and as a team.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20205.pdf
GLB 206 – SDG 6: Clean Water & Sanitation
Today, 2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and 3.6 billion do not have access to safe sanitation facilities. Unsafe hygiene practices are common, and this practice has negative effects on people's health. Microbial contamination is still regarded as the most serious risk factor in drinking water quality across the world. However, chemical pollution from both natural and manmade causes, such as arsenic, fluoride, pesticides, petrochemicals, and salt contamination, affects millions of people. This course focuses on appropriate and sustainable technologies for water and sanitation. It also incorporates technical, socio-cultural, public health, and economic factors into the planning and design of water and sanitation systems.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20206.pdf
GLB 207 – SDG 12: Responsible Consumption & Production
This course introduces responsibility of consumption and aimed to explain the concept of responsibility in various fields, such as management, business, marketing, economics, industrial engineering, bioengineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering etc. Within the scope of the course, components of responsibility towards shareholders, stakeholders, companies, employees, consumers, and society will be discussed. Real-life examples will be examined to increase awareness of the concept of responsible consumption and production.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20207.pdf
GLB 208 – SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
Aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of Sustainable Development Goal 8 among the 17 SDGs established by the United Nations. Natures of problems targeted in SDG 8 are explored throughout the course in the three parts of SDG 8: (i) Economic Growth, (ii) Employment, and (iii) Decent Work. All three aspects are introduced and related problems are discussed at local and global levels incorporating political, economic, scientific, technological, social, and other potentially related perspectives. Students will gain knowledge about the interconnectedness of SDG 8 with various fields through working on the challenges in front of the three parts of SDG 8.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20208.pdf
GLB 209 – SDG 9: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
This course intends to introduce SDG 9 while encouraging teamwork and motivates students to find multidisciplinary and creative solutions for current problems. In teamwork students will also have an opportunity to learn from their peers, have a wider interdisciplinary perspective on global problems and recognize their potential for creating sustainable and innovative solutions.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20209.pdf
GLB 210 – SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
Aiming to motivate students to develop tangible solutions for the contemporary problems of our world, this course will cover the main aspects of refugee crises and integration problems. The course will consist of two parts. In the first half, the course will involve information sessions (lecturing/guest speakers) organized by common lectures. The second part of the course involves finding tangible solutions and developing a simple project for the issues that refugees face in our communities
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20210.pdf
GLB 216 – SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Peace is often understood as the absence of war and physical violence. While preventing war and physical violence is important, defining peace through its absence overlooks other types of violence, such as cultural and structural violence. Many individual experiences these invisible types of violence in their daily lives because of their gender, ethnicity, or beliefs. While many focused on the visible types of violence, inequality and injustices that arose from invisible violence remain unseen and unaddressed. Thus, peace is not only about a matter of control and reduction of direct use of violence, but it is about reaching equality, social justice, and emancipation. Thus, peace is a constant search for improving and developing individual lives. Consequently, this course aims to present the notion of positive peace, how different types of violence permeate societies and their implications on human development, and the ways that we, as individuals, construct and maintain peace.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20216.pdf
GLB 270 – SDG 7: Affordable & Clean Energy
The course will focus on affordable & clean energy in the light of 2 different perspectives. One will be sustainable transport. Enhance students' consciousness about how public (railway, buses, BRT, etc.,), private (cars) and green transport systems (bicycle, electric vehicles, renewable energy, etc.) could be designed and implement in general for affordable & clean energy. Other one will be fossil, nuclear energy sources and minerals that are indirectly used in energy production (minerals used in the production of vehicles used in renewable energy production such as platinum group metals, rare earth elements and vanadium source minerals). These sources and minerals will be examined in detail within the scope of the course.
Course Record: https://glb-en.agu.edu.tr/uploads/coursecatalogs/GLB%20270.pdf