1 INTRODUCTION Curricula for academic programs in Masters of Architecture or Civil Engineering that emphasise sustainability have become very complex and extensive. Such programs have to ensure that tra- ditional topics related to design and construction continue to be covered, but must now extend to at least some of related issues in the fields of ecology, climate science, sociology, materials sci- ence, construction technology, urban planning and management theory. This situation presents both instructors and students with several dilemmas: is it better to fol- low a broad but shallow survey approach, or a more in-depth but narrower program consisting of individual courses? And, if an in-depth approach is followed, how can the various compo- nents be tied together? Another approach is to use an existing performance rating system (e.g. LEED, BREEAM, CASBEE etc.) as the basis for an educational program. Such systems do link together many separate technical and environmental issues, but in a way that is applicable to a particular build- ing type in a specific region, and this works against the need to inculcate students with ideas that they will be able to apply to different building types in other regions. The issue to be resolved is two-fold: how to ensure that the increased amount and breadth of information can be absorbed to an acceptable depth and focus, and how to integrate the rapidly proliferating special areas of study. Using the SBTool System as a platform for education in sustainable built environment Nils Larsson Executive Director of the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment larsson@iisbe.org Luis Bragança University of Minho, School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Guimarães, Portugal braganca@civil.uminho.pt ABSTRACT: For a number of the well-known rating systems, the number of registered projects greatly exceeds those certified. Part of this is due to time lags in the process and the high cost of certification, but it also reflects a desire by users to learn about sustainability issues raised in these systems. In professional development settings, formal courses related to sustainability as- sessments tend to focus on specific rating systems, and result in credentials being given only for the specific system. In formal educational settings the study of large number of existing systems presents a problem, since each one contains very specific and different criteria. In this context, it is suggested that the generic SBTool system, which has a generalized framework and contains a broad spectrum of generic criteria and benchmarks, could be used as an effective educational platform. In this scenario, instructors and students could collaborate to determine the scope of enquiry (multi-issue, or focused on a particular issue area) and then concentrate the discussion on the issues related to the validity and appropriate implementation of specific criteria. The pa- per will illustrate some options related to the issues outlined above, and will demonstrate the great diversity of results that are possible within the consistent overall framework.