Circular Economy Educational Approaches for Higher Learning Supply Chains: A Literature Review

Education is a common good to humanity just like the natural environment is the cornerstone of the social and economic system. Preservation of the natural environment is then even a better common good. While education is important, education that is sustainable is vital toward ecologically-sustainable communities. With such, this paper critically analyzed content of 43 articles (2000–2021) from the Web of Science toward provision of a research agenda on circular economy educational approaches for higher learning supply chains which are vital toward sustainability education. Research so far shows some progress in this subject, however, there is little attention on holistic circular economy educational models toward Campus sustainability. Besides, there is scanty contribution reflecting the educational model from a supply chain perspective. With such, this paper categorizes circular economy educational approaches for higher learning supply chains to (curricula content, campus operations, hidden curriculum, physical spaces, educational outlier and networks). Aspects related to educational outlier seem to be the most focused on while physical spaces seem to be the least focused on. We see no trace on the role of networks toward circular institutions. Future research should look into providing a thorough conceptual scope of the approaches to offer understanding on the circular economy educational approaches; and offer holistic frameworks governing the uptake of circular economy education. Finally, this paper offers insights to scholars and practitioners to prioritize fighting climate change from the classrooms by being holistic in their suggestions and embedment of circular economy education.