Course contents focusing on climate, environment and sustainability: an analysis of communication faculties in Times 500 list

As the problem of climate change has become a global issue due to global warming, addressing environmental and climate problems at the local or national level is necessary but not enough to tackle the issue. It is crucial to make and implement policies on a supranational level. Climate change is an issue that needs to be addressed with an interdisciplinary approach to ensure accurate and fluent communication among different realms. Therefore, professionals must specialise in this field, not only in science but also in other disciplines. In this context, where a balance is sought between sustainable life and climate change, communication is one of the areas that gains importance. Communication faculties should add climate-oriented courses to their curricula to achieve better implementation of local and global policies. This study aims to analyse the courses that already serve this purpose and to provide a roadmap for future ones. The course content of the communication faculties of the universities ranked in the top 500 in the Times Higher Education 2024 list was scanned using the keywords climate, environment, and sustainability. 123 courses, including the keywords in their names, were analysed sequentially using curriculum and content analysis methods. It has been concluded that climate-oriented courses are handled with an interdisciplinary approach designed to direct students to think analytically and focus on implementation. The curricula on this issue should include a comprehensive, action-oriented framework that encourages critical thinking.