English-Related Curricula as Sites of Geoscience Communication: Earth-System Sustainability and the Emerging Visibility of Space Sustainability in 15 Asian Universities

Abstract. This study examines English-related curricular provision and its public documentary representation as potential infrastructure for geoscience communication in Asian higher education. Using comparative document analysis, it analyses 19 domain-bearing curricular segments and three contextual language-policy records linked to 18 official source documents from 15 selected research-intensive universities across Mainland China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea, and India. Among the 19 curricular segments, 3 were coded as Direct, 3 as Direct-adjacent, 13 as Adjacent, and none as Indirect. SEG-022 was coded as Adjacent and additionally marked with a cross-cutting Space-related exploratory flag. Communicative framing was identifiable in only four segments: three were dissemination-oriented and one showed dialogue through explicit peer collaboration; no segment documented participation through co-production, shared decision-making, or sustained public or stakeholder involvement. The remaining 15 segments were coded as Not identifiable. Earth-system, climate, ocean, environmental, geospatial, and sustainability-related knowledge is widely visible, but explicit English-mediated geoscience communication remains uncommon. Most evidence represents English-medium disciplinary access or an English-language documentary or institutional interface rather than audience-aware communication learning. Space sustainability remains weakly evidenced and is treated as an exploratory boundary case rather than an established curricular domain. The study therefore distinguishes curricular visibility from communicative transformation and shows how public curriculum documents can identify potential, but not actual classroom enactment or learning outcomes.