The development and implementation of substance use prevention and treatment education and training curricula
in the academic setting presents numerous challenges. This Implementation Guide offers university administrators
and faculty a framework for meeting such challenges, including useful strategies for resolving key practical issues.
The Guide is intended to provide a simple “road map” to support academics in planning and managing their
respective implementation projects.

The idea for the Implementation Guide was inspired by the experience of members of the International Consortium
of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR), founded in 2016 to assist academic institutions worldwide
in improving education for substance use professionals. In working with universities in over 50 countries, ICUDDR
has observed that education programs in preventing and treating substance use disorders usually manifests in the
following categories:
• Specialized training and education activities within an existing discipline (e.g., in psychology, medicine,
etc.)
• Summer or winter schools specializing in addiction or prevention geared to a range of target audiences
(e.g., addiction treatment professionals. mental health providers, prevention specialists etc.)
• Lifelong/continuing education activities for different kinds of health or social work professionals
• Comprehensive academic degree programs (e.g. bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels) that focus
primarily on substance use disorder prevention and treatment.

The process within this Implementation Guide is set forth in five stages:
1. Needs assessment and preparatory work.
2. Curriculum development and adaptation of available curricula such as the Universal Treatment
Curriculum (UTC) and Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC) to the university environment
3. Program implementation
4. Ensuring sustainability of the study program
5. Establishing a quality policy: monitoring, evaluation, and updating

This guide is designed as part of a tool kit that includes case studies, video recordings of face to face training and
webinars, and materials that have been developed by universities willing to share their syllabi, core requirements,
and other documents necessary for education program development.