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11 mai 2013

It Takes Two to Tango: Higher Education Institutions and the Employers

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
It Takes Two to Tango: Higher Education Institutions and the Employers (IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1)
By Pam Fredman, IAU Vice-President and Rector University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Tomorrow’s society will be formed by the on-going globalization. There are many definitions of the word globalization, but the one given by Dr Nayef R.F. Al Rodhan and Gérard Stoudman (19 June 2006), “Globalization is a process that encompasses the cause, course, and consequences of translational and transcultural integration of human and non-human activities”, is well in line with the topic of the 14th IAU General Conference, in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2012, “Higher Education and the Global Agenda: Alternative Paths to the Future”. Globalization will continue with its positive and negative consequences and the future challenges have to be met with the perspective of a sustainable development of society, encompassing environmental, economic, cultural and social aspects.
It is generally held that the development of tomorrow’s society will require large numbers of knowledgeable and engaged individuals. This need is reflected in an increase of HEIs around the world and national goals concerning HE. The attitude to and the knowledge and recognition of sustainable development perspectives carried by these students will have a great impact on our future society. That HEIs have a crucial role and responsibility in the development of a sustainable society is obvious. New knowledge has to be created and developed through disciplinary depth and interdisciplinary challenges. Global challenges like environmental destruction, economic crises, social exclusion, ageing populations and transmission of diseases all have to be approached from a range of different perspectives. This demands multidisciplinary knowledge and a holistic view that must be transferred to all parts of society through our students, the future workforce and our future leaders... Read more in IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1.
11 mai 2013

Tomorrow’s Universities and the Seven Pillars of the Knowledge Revolution

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
Tomorrow’s Universities and the Seven Pillars of the Knowledge Revolution (IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1)
By Ismail Serageldin, Director, Library of Alexandria, Egypt.
The Seven Pillars of the New Knowledge Revolution The ICT revolution and the globalization we are witnessing are also promoting what I call the “New Knowledge Revolution”. This knowledge revolution can be characterised by seven key “pillars”. These are:
Parsing, Life & Organization – Since the beginning of time, whether we were writing on scrolls or codexes, the accumulation of knowledge was based on parsed structures, with units put next to each other like bricks in a wall of an emerging structure. In addition each piece was “dead”, or fixed, once published. The Internet changed all that. The web page became the unit of parsing, and it is constantly updated. Today, we witness fluid merging of text and image, both still and video, and 3D virtual reality and augmented reality. The structure, organization and presentation of knowledge will become one large interconnected vibrant global living tissue of concepts, ideas and facts that is growing exponentially and which will require new modes of thinking to interact with it.
Image & Text – Throughout history, we transmitted information mostly as text. The human brain can process visual information with incredible rapidity, but images were difficult to produce and to reproduce. Today everybody can record images and we can expect far larger reliance on image – in addition to text – in the future.
Humans & Machines – With the exception of pure mathematics and some aspects of philosophy, it will no longer be possible for any human being to search for, find and retrieve, and then manipulate knowledge in any field, without the intermediation of machines.
Complexity and Chaos – The world we live in is remarkably complex. Ecosystems, biological functions and the socioeconomic transactions of a globalizing world are all exceedingly intricate and chaotic. Many of our models, based on the simple mathematics and analogies drawn from physics, are proving inadequate.
Computation & Research – Computing and information science will no longer be only for assisting in crunching large numbers. Today, Computational Science Concepts, tools and theorems will weave into the very fabric of science and scientific practice.
Convergence & Transformation – In simplest terms, once upon a time we had chemistry and biology as distinct and separate enterprises, now we also have biochemistry. Such moments of convergence, generating new sciences and insights, are extremely productive in the development of our knowledge and our technologies.
Pluri-Disciplinarity & Policy – The old academic “silos” of disciplines when functioning alone are counterproductive. Many of our real life problems, such as poverty, gender or the environment, are all multi-dimensional and complex and require a special way of organizing all the various disciplinary inputs. We need the wisdom of the humanities in addition to the knowledge of the natural sciences... Read more in IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1.
11 mai 2013

Higher Education and Globalisation: an Indissolubly Technical and Ethical Partnership

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
Higher Education and Globalisation: an Indissolubly Technical and Ethical Partnership (IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1)
By Monique Castillo, Professor of Philosophy, Université Paris-Est Créteil, France.
First Vision of Globalisation: Multipolarity as a Division of the World

Difference encourages competition between nations and continents In a world where everyone is looking out for him or herself, students are striving for a dominant place amongst the new elites of globalization, which for them represents a mass of opportunities there for the taking; they are devoting all their energy to contributing to the new achievements of the “information age”.
Consequences for universities: No public world culture; Manipulative elites; Achievement vs. ethics.
In an international context dominated by uncertainty, we have to accept change in order to turn it into opportunity; our utmost duty is to ensure that, as humans, we mobilise ourselves to keep up with change. The type of person who establishes him or herself as an elite inspires neither confidence nor envy, especially a ‘fighter’, unafraid of compromise, with a mercenary view of the knowledge economy.
Second Vision of Globalisation: Irreversible Technological Homogenisation

The race for diplomas and patents anticipates and precipitates the advent of a mangerialised world Globalisation is seen as inevitable and irreversible cultural homogenization. Basic knowledge which lets students be part of this globalization is the sort of knowledge which needs no culture; knowledge is passed on thanks to its cultural anonymity. An exclusively utilitarian concept of knowledge leads to a generalised deculturalisation of the elite, with excellence being limited to the possession of what is known as “cognitive capitalism”, which integrates knowledge into the productive dynamic.
Consequences for universities: A public world culture founded on a general deculturalisation; Citizens of the world who have neither faith nor rules; Knowledge as cognitive technology.
Expert debates just bring together decultured individuals, with globalisation acting as a dispossessor of universal culture. The disengagement between professional success and culture favours inculture: the winners of this deculturalisation become indifferent world citizens (L’économie mondialisée, Reich).
Third vision of globalisation: the need for common cultural good

The promotion of a pluralist public culture becomes a universal goal At a time when fierce competition is dividing people, we need a public culture capable of favouring the creativity of each one of us within a climate of universal peace. Pluralism as a common good can become a universal goal, provided that we fight against both cultural homogenization and cultural tribalism (favouring one’s own culture, disdaining the other’s)... Read more in IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1.
11 mai 2013

Future paths of international higher education

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
Future paths of international higher education (IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1)
By Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
The landscape of international higher education is constantly changing. Our task – as scholars of international education, as well as practitioners who need to understand international education – is to identify the most important and decisive paths to take. What are the trend lines in international education that will shape everything else?
In recent years, the trends that have been especially important in creating international education and internationalised education have been (1) study abroad/student mobility, (2) research collaboration and (3) university rankings. But internationalisation will not stand still and other trends are emerging which could shape the future of international education.
The following three trends or paths have been identified as becoming increasingly important:
The growing pluralisation of advanced higher education

More countries now provide higher education at advanced levels and the number will keep on rising. A total of 49 countries now maintain systems of higher education that publish more than 1000 journal papers per year in science and social science (as collated by Thomson). The threshold of 1000 journal papers is a useful indicator for the presence of local research and doctoral capacity. This number of 49 countries is an increase of almost 30% in the number of countries with their own capacity in research in just 15 years. This trend indicates that there are now many more countries capable of attracting visiting students, scholars and researchers, and acting as collaboration partners, either among neighbouring countries or across the world. In turn, this will increase the ‘horizontal’ aspect of student mobility, with a reduced proportion of mobility concentrated in a few dominant countries like the USA, UK, Germany, France and Australia; and with mobility patterns in the world as a whole beginning to look more like mobility patterns within Europe. In addition, as the capacity of higher education improves in emerging countries, we can expect more students and researchers from the long established systems to spend time in the emerging countries. We can already see this in the growth in the number of American students going to China.
A growing emphasis on hard-edged indicators of internationalisation

Within the administration of government programmes and also institutions’ own strategies for building international awareness and engagements, a growing emphasis can be seen on hard-edged indicators of internationalisation. No one has ‘nailed’ the problem of developing a fully satisfactory set of indicators – one that both contains coherent numerical measures, and is sufficiently comprehensive to cover the many aspects of internationalisation – but there are several projects under development. This focus on hard-edged indicators shows that many systems, and some of their institutions, want to achieve more intensive and self-transformative international experiences. They want to bring an international dimension to the knowledge content of the curriculum, to enhance global skill-building and to improve intercultural relations in culturally mixed classrooms. They want to move from rhetoric and bland mission statements, to changing the nature of the education that everyone receives.
This is a very challenging task, and there is always a danger of placing too much emphasis on those elements that can be counted – so that internationalisation becomes limited, formulaic – but if the drive to achieve internationalisation is strong enough then progress is made. A strong example can be seen in those East Asian systems like China and Singapore that use targets and formal benchmarks to drive improved internationalisation.
The emergence of mass open online courseware

Mass open online courseware (MOOCs) is becoming accessible from leading universities with top brand value: Harvard-MIT... Read more in IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1.

11 mai 2013

Internationalisation of higher education

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
Internationalisation of higher education (IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2)
By Gilles Breton, Graduate School of International and Public Affairs, University of Ottawa, Canada.
A topic becomes the object of deep debate because it cristallises a call for references, a demand for renewed understanding of a situation that seems more and more complex, or the search for new forms of action. This is, to my mind, the impact and interest of the document Affirming Academic Values in Internationalization of Higher Education: A Call for Action launched by IAU a few weeks ago.
At the time when I received the IAU text, I was deep in the reading of the remarkable book by Marie Scot on La London School of Economic and political science 1895-2010 Internationalisation universitaire et circulation des savoirs which seems to me a major contribution to the discussion on the internationalisation of our universities. Obviously, the London School of Economic and political science (LSE) is not a representative example, since it is a university that is solely specialised in social sciences and humanities and one of the most international universities in the world. If in 1925, it already had 20% of foreign students, in 2010 they represented 68% of its 10 000 students and 57% of its teachers were foreign. But its history and present position on the world university chessboard make LSE a privileged observatory to give true meaning to the internationalisation of higher education and to understand the impact and limits of the international strategies of an institution on its academic life.
The contribution of Marie Scot’s book seems twofold to me. On the one hand, the analysis over a long period, in this case 1895-2010, enables us to understand the changes in internationalisation and its various contributions to the life of an institution. If the first period of internationalisation that goes from 1920 to 1944 is a time of refoundation of academic life and international expertise in the fields of international relations, colonial studies and economics, it is also a time when international recruitment becomes a prominent line of action and the implementation of embryonic networks of alumni (network of former students). The second period, which covers the years 1945-1974, is that of the years of the Cold War and the special relations between the British Empire and the United States. At the academic level, it witnesses the creation at LSE of new fields of study such as development studies, econometrics, demography and, of course the ‘Area Studies’. The international strategies focus on greater international student and teacher mobility, the redefinition of courses of study to be offered to foreign students according to their cycle of studies, the export to the Third World of the British university model and last the multiplication of networks of former students. Last a period of “world- class university in academic globalisation 1975-2010”, which sees the LSE faced with the crisis in university funding that affects both the education programmes – sale of educational products and factory to produce masters – and research activities which are becoming more and more activities of extrauniversity and international expertise. If the two periods preceding the networks of former students developed in the perspective of their contribution to the funding of the institution, the current period enriches this ‘alumni’ stake by presenting it as an indicator of the soft power of LSE on the international scene.
If the embedding of internationalisation in an historical perspective is welcome, the perspective of the author of the circulation of knowledge seems to me to enrich the discussion and give depth to the concept of internationalisation because the circulation of knowledge does not limit itself to the usual analysis of academic mobility by policymakers, students, professors and ‘alumni’, but also includes the study of the impact of internationalisation on academic and disciplinary mobility, the recomposition not only of training programmes to which an international element would be added, but also of the disciplines themselves and the research activities. In this book, we find a proposal to read internationalisation as something that, by including the circulation of scientific paradigms, opens on to promising axes of research and action and offers a new light on the proposition that internationalisation is an institutional project that is at the heart and not at the periphery of the life of a university. This book should be read by both researchers and the actors of internationalisation. Read more in IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2.
11 mai 2013

Be informed, get involved, make a difference – oikos Student Entrepreneurship for Sustainability

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
Be informed, get involved, make a difference – oikos Student Entrepreneurship for Sustainability (IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2)
By Jost Hamschmidt, academic director, oikos foundation for economy and ecoloy and Dawid Wroblewski, president, oikos International.
Oikos (name chosen for its etymological reference to both economy and ecology) is a student-inspired organisation for Sustainable Economics and Management, that operates through a broad network. Founded at the University of St. Gallen in 1987, oikos now counts more than 35 student groups (oikos chapters), among them a growing number outside Europe. oikos’ mission is to strengthen action competence for sustainable development among tomorrow’s decision makers. With a learning-by-doing approach, oikos students implement sustainability-driven innovation and promote the integration of sustainability perspectives into research and teaching at their schools. Over time, the organization has developed its activities beyond student activism. ‘Be informed – get involved – make a difference’ is the organizations’ guiding motto. Read more in IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2.
11 mai 2013

Transforming our universities into sustainable development labs opened to the world

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
Transforming our universities into sustainable development labs opened to the world (IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2)
By Alain Webster, Vice-President, Sustainable development and government relations and Véronique Bisaillon, Educational consultant – Sustainable development, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada.
In our universities, any global sustainable development strategy should be woven into teaching, research and management activities altogether. In fact, universities are poised to become efficient sustainable development labs, locally committed and set to address global issues. This has always been Université de Sherbrooke’s approach, with results that extend far beyond its three campuses. A common challenge Since the beginning of its sustainable development efforts, in 2004, Université de Sherbrooke always endeavoured to closely interact with civic partners. This approach allowed for the enactment of sustainable development policies by major Sherbrooke stakeholders, including City, health and teaching institutions. Université de Sherbrooke’s sustainable mobility strategy, including the renowned Open Access to Public Transit Programme for students, well illustrates the relevance of this cooperative approach. Created in close collaboration with City transit officials and student associations, the success of the programme – and of the whole strategy – is measured by the lowering of GhG emissions, a diminution of parking space, the creation of similar programmes by many other institutions, and the fact that sustainable mobility has become a major stake in the City’s development! Building upon its success, Université de Sherbrooke managed to eliminate 200 parking spaces to replace them with an attractive and very central green space dubbed Coeur campus (the heart of the Campus), which also acts as a rainwater purifier system. The strategy also made it possible for a student coop to build a university residence downtown Sherbrooke, very close to the city’s main bus terminal, in an effort to promote Transit Oriented Development (TOD). What’s more, by advocating the use of eco-efficient vehicles, this sustainable mobility strategy plays a part in teaching and research activities in the fields of biofuels and electricity-based transports. Read more in IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2.
11 mai 2013

African higher education in the 21st century

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
African higher education in the 21st century
(IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2)
By Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Murray & Roberts Chair of Environmental Education and Sustainability and Professor Rhodes University, South Africa and by Mahesh Pradhan, UNEP, Director of Education and Training. What direction for education in the 21st century? how should higher education in Africa prepare young leaders for the future? These questions are significant, since Africa is soon to be the world’s most youthful continent. An expanding network of African professors and their leaders have been meeting and working on these problems since 2004 when the Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) programme was initiated through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the African Association of Universities (AAU), in partnership a number of other global and regional organisations and universities as a flagship programme of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
Since its establishment MESA network has expanded in scope and size. Today it is possible to find that approximately one quarter of Africa’s universities are engaged in various environment and sustainability curriculum and campus innovations. Capacity building for university staff is an important feature of the programme, and training programmes exist that connect faculty in Africa with faculty in Asia and in other parts of the world. The various training programmes associated with MESA already have over 300 alumni. Through wider interest in the MESA programme, UNEP has turned the programme to a global initiative named the Global Universities Partnership for Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) which will be launched in Shanghai as an associated event of Rio+20.
But what has resulted from this continental network? There is evidence of at least 100 different curriculum and campus innovations. These range in scale, from single subject changes, to whole new degree programmes which have been launched and funded as a result of faculty participation in MESA. The University of zambia for example introduced a Bachelors of Environmental Education degree, with hundreds of young people applying for it each year, while the University of Cape Town has restructured its entire Environmental Law programme, with new staff appointed. The kigali Institute of Technology in Rwanda started an innovative community engagement and training programme based on the bio-digestors designed at kIST. This has provided skills development and entrepreneurship opportunities for hundreds of prisoners and youth. The universities of Jomo kenyatta University in kenya, the University of Swaziland and others have developed and implemented Education for Sustainable Development policy frameworks for the entire university. These are just a few of the results emerging from the networking and professional development opportunities that have emerged from MESA across the continent.
At the core of the initiative is a commitment to transformative learning, and a ‘Change Project’ concept, in which all participating faculty or university leaders choose what they can and would like to change in their universities to improve education in ways that strengthen sustainable development on the continent. In the final analysis it is this self-directed, emergent model of change that has proven to be successful as it allows for ongoing, reflexive change in a context where many change initiatives have failed because of their top down or ‘outsider driven’ orientation. Future goals of MESA are to continue with this movement for change in universities; to expand international exchange opportunities and access to the latest knowledge resources and policy developments on environment and sustainability through networking and training. UNEP are developing curriculum guidelines to strengthen curriculum innovations, and support for Green Economy programme developments in universities. The vision of MESA academics is a continent free of poverty, where Africa’s people have the knowledge, values and capabilities necessary to develop the continent sustainably, peacefully and equitably for current and future generations. Read more in IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2.
11 mai 2013

COPERNICUS Alliance – promoting transformative learning and change for sustainability in higher education

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
COPERNICUS Alliance – promoting transformative learning and change for sustainability in higher education
(IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2)
By Ingrid Mulà, Secretariat, Clemens Mader, Vice President and Daniella Tilbury, President, COPERNICUS Alliance.

Research studies demonstrate that only a few universities have been successful in transforming the whole institutional culture and inspiring a widespread institutional change. The reality is that changing the culture and structure of universities and colleges is highly complex and requires the involvement of the whole institutional community.
Change for sustainability in higher education has been primarily driven by international partnerships and networks which are directing efforts to support sustainability innovation in all areas of universities. The COPERNICUS Alliance, a European network for higher education and sustainability, is a network which promotes transformative learning and change for sustainability across the higher education sector. The COPERNICUS Alliance has its roots in the COPERNICUS Charta which was published by the European Rectors Conference in 1993. The Charta outlines ten “change pathways” including sustainable development values and ethics, education for university employees and students, and institutional strategic frameworks. The Charta, which resides with the Copernicus Alliance, has been endorsed by 326 European universities, showcasing their commitment in leading change for sustainability, and was updated as COPERNICUS Charta 2.0 in 2011.
The COPERNICUS Alliance within and across its network of members and partners promotes learning through dialogue and exchange opportunities; encourages the development of publications and resources; collects and shares best practice; provides opportunities for collaborative research; and reviews assessment tools to assist organisations in their journeys towards sustainability. All activities of the COPERNICUS Alliance are based on the active engagement of its members. Members can be institutions (involving all staff) as well as individuals and have the opportunity to actively exchange with others and initiate projects that support endeavours of sustainability integration in institutional as well as European wide or international context.
The Alliance has recently identified its key priorities for the period 2012-13 and has committed to prioritising Education for Sustainability (EfS) activities, strengthening Rio+20 Earth Summit outcomes for higher education and extending the network across Europe. The intention is to inform and influence policy developments as well as to raise the profile of higher education in key international dialogues and gatherings.
COPERNICUS Alliance website: www.copernicus-alliance.org/
COPERNICUS Alliance Secretariat: office@copernicus-alliance.org
Capacity building on sustainability assessment in higher education
To support higher education institutions within their management of sustainability agencies, the COPERNICUS Alliance, together with the United Nations University has launched a capacity building initiative for higher education sustainability assessment. An international workshop was organised in 2011 to exchange knowledge and experiences among members and international experts. A book publication is under development and a special issue in Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal (Emerald Publishing) has recently announced its call for papers in the field. See: www.emeraldinsight.com. Download IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2.
11 mai 2013

The Contribution of Higher Education to Sustainable Development – An introduction

http://www.iau-aiu.net/sites/all/files/Front%20cover%20-%20ENG.jpgIAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
The Contribution of Higher Education to Sustainable Development – An introduction (IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2)
By Hilligje van’t Land, IAU Director Membership and Programme Development, and Daniella Tilbury, University of Gloucestershire, UK.
The concept of sustainable development has evolved quite substantially since it was first introduced some decades ago. Many have spent time defining it, believing that this would make it easier to take it up and implement its principles. Others have initiated pilot projects to test out practices but also to inspire action and commitment across stakeholder groups. Time has shown that higher education institutions are seeing the relevance of this agenda but also that they have often struggled to locate it in the right ‘place’ within the institution’s mandate and various practices, including teaching, research, and management. Until recently much activity has remained in the fringes of the tertiary education.
Recently the attention has shifted from Sustainable Development to ESD (education for sustainable development) as Universities see the criticality of embedding sustainability into its core business – education. In parallel, sector commitments have been revisited and reoriented by University Leaders with climate change, coming to the fore-front of dialogues in this area. Parallel to these movements we see greater expectations from students, communities, government, business and industry and other stakeholders as they ask questions regarding the role currently played by higher education in the transition towards a more sustainable future.
The following 26 articles present the reader with a rich set of briefs explaining the diversity of actions undertaken around the world in the fields of policy advocacy, leadership and management, education and curriculum reform, research, outreach, campus greening, student initiatives, and includes an insight to a selection of assessment tools developed to measure reforms and innovation at all levels. What is stressed by the many authors, whom we thank for their valuable contributions to this issue of horizons, is that higher education is not standing still; on the contrary. higher education is moving ahead challenging unsustainable practices and innovating for more sustainable futures.
The current global economic crisis may have contributed in some way to this deeper commitment: some indeed see it as an extra push for rethinking, redefining, ‘refounding’ the way universities teaching and research is being done. Yet at the same time the crisis are as well often used as an excuse to not ‘re-think’ but to ‘re-duce’ what is being taught, when courses and/or programmes are labelled as ‘economically not viable’. Better address the challenges humanity and the world face requires students to benefit from interdisciplinary rich programmes. Excessive streamlining can only be detrimental and, in the end, counterproductive.The papers stress the need for more visionary leaders who can foster and sustain initiatives at all levels. Change management is a huge task, implementing it requires much effort, but it is a task worth pursuing: tools are available; staff is receptive and available and students are eager to get more involved and take it up. The complexity of this agenda means that not only can it be carried out by visionary leaders, they will only success if all – funders, legislators, supporting agencies, trade unions, employers, local communities as well as staff and students – are being engaged in rethinking higher education and in reorienting systems and practices towards sustainability.
The Rio+ 20 Summit will take place as this issue will come off the press. We hope that this magazine along with other initiatives lead by higher education stakeholders will once more make the case for what higher Education stands for: building equitable, future-facing, innovative and intellectually challenging societies for all. higher Education must take responsibility as well as carve more responsible pathways for the communities it serves so that people and planet are not exploited in the development process. Download IAU Horizons Volume 18, No.2.
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