Universities play an important role for shaping the future of the world society in terms of sustainable development by generating new knowledge as well as contributing to the development of appropriate competencies and raising sustainability awareness. During the last years, many universities have realised activities for implementing Higher Education for Sustainable Development. However, it can be asked which key competencies are most relevant for sustainable development and hence should be developed in future-oriented higher education. Different approaches for the selection of sustainability key competencies have been developed, but it can be stated that in the international debate does not exist an agreement about the most important key competencies. Consequently, this paper asks: Which individual key competencies are crucial for understanding the central challenges of the world society and for shaping it in terms of sustainable development and thus should be fostered through university teaching and learning? The empirical design of the study is related to a Delphi study in which sustainability key competencies are defined by selected experts from Europe (Germany, Great Britain) and Latin America (Chile, Ecuador, Mexico). The results show that twelve key competencies crucial for sustainable development can be identified; the most relevant ones are those for systemic thinking, anticipatory thinking and critical thinking.
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