Jinan:

I think Universities can be more effective in implementing Education for Sustainable Development by making their curricular more globally responsive to students' need. As an international student, I was not able to easily transfer what I learnt at a foreign University after studying for my doctorate and returning home as the curriculum rarely catered to a third-world or developing country perspective. As such, my education was not fully sustainable. The attached helps to elaborate on the need expressed in considering sustainable education.

Many thanks,

Debra

Data Generation I: International and invisible in a workforce edu...

Dear all, sustainable development has focused mainly in architecture, urbanism and eco-landscape. Maybe it is time to focus it on sustainable education, sustainable humanities, sustainable etc. We are spending huge amounts in technology for education, which becomes outdated almost immediately as we adopt it almost acritically. We are not thinking of what is wiser in terms of educating and not in technologizing. A serious look should be given to this technology frenzy and how technology, in abstract terms, may or may not aid in education. The same with the development of humanism capable of furthering culture and its appreciation etc. We are too materialistic, and right now sustainable development has become extremely expensive because "green" technology is scandalously expensive. Like all fads, the fad in the present is more important than the end result in the future. All that money is going to multinational corporations which are not quite interested in sustainability or wise development.

Let's eliminate fetishes, please!

Best regards, Lilliana

According to me, universities can play central role in implementing education for sustainable development. Proper training can be assisted by universities efficiently. 

The issue is far more complex and multifaceted. See my views:

Conference Paper Savelyeva, T. & Park J. (2012). Complexity of Campus Sustain...

In today’s knowledge-based economy, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), as the centers for developing human resource, play a significant role in transforming traditional society into the modern knowledge society. Universities take a lead role for transforming societies for sustainable development . There is need to promote investment in higher educational system through universities  so as to engaged educated and skilled manpower for the inclusive growth and development of the country and aware the deprived society and prepare them to face the challenge of change. To keep pace with the flow of the global economic challenges, it is the primary role of university  to develop human resource capital and take initiatives in managing the program  for the all round long run social up-liftment and inclusiveness.

I agree with the views of Dr. Chaubey. Indeed HEIs play a pivotal room in grooming the leaders of the future and are a crucial link in integrating the backward classes of society into the mainstream.

It's important to begin with the basics, striving for clarity and precision on what version of development you are using.  My preference is equitable, integrated, and sustainable social and economic development, and it includes the explicit priority to address the terrible trilogy of poverty, social exclusion, and social isolation, including its ever-increasing place-based character.

If this priority is center-stage, the implications for university outreach and engagement initiatives and schools of education (pedagogy) are profound.   If it is not, university officials and ed school leaders will perceive and claim that the now-dominant, neo-liberal agenda also is a sustainable development agenda.   At least, that's the tendency in my part of the world, and it enables leaders to excuse themselves and their organizations from the profound challenges of concentrated disadvantage.

You may wish to look at the university-assisted community schools model.  Google the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania.  Another option: Centre for Educational Equity, University of Manchester, UK.

We address some of these issues in our newly-published book.  Lawson, H.A., & van Veen, D. (2016, Springer International).  I focuses on new school designs world-wide and it includes a special chapter on universities and Ed. Schools.  

I've also attached a forthcoming paper that explores the relationship between community schools and Ed schools (schools of pedagogy).  Comments welcome. 

The level of integration of sustainable development in higher education across Europe differs according to the cultural and institutional context.

http://du.lv/en/esd-professional-development-of-university-educators/

Dear Jinan & RG friends,

Sustainable development encompasses environment, economics and society. Therefore, people need basic knowledge from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to understand the principles of sustainable development, how they can be implemented, the values involved and ramifications of their implementation.  Knowledge based on traditional disciplines supports ESD. 

Education for sustainable development can help address present and future global challenges and create more sustainable and resilient societies. (Sustainable development cannot be achieved by financial instruments, political regulation, or technological solutions alone.) We need to change the way we think and act: this requires quality education and learning at all levels and in all social contexts. UNESCO has a crucial role to play in coordinating the implementation of the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development, aiming to impact learning content, pedagogy and learning environments, and learning outcomes for societal transformation. The Sustainable Development Goals that were approved by the United Nations in September 2015 provide a powerful springboard. For example, one might imagine that more courses on, say, renewable energy engineering, environmental engineering, and environmental sustainability should be encouraged and offered in universities (not least of all in developing countries). Education must also reach beyond traditional silos of understanding so engineers find ways to talk with students of humanities, economists with ecologists, and all of them with one another. These are just a few examples. In the immediate, one might argue that youth should be better informed about the Sustainable Development Goals to begin. Toward this, presentations such as Understand: The Global Goals and Youth and the Global Goals, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302377272_Understand_The_Global_Goals and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302377627_Youth_and_the_Global_Goals, respectively, are useful. (The World Sustainable Development Timeline available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266878643_World_Sustainable_Development_Timeline catalogs major sector and thematic landmarks in the world since 1948 and is of contextual interest too.)

Data World Sustainable Development Timeline

Presentation Understand: The Global Goals

Presentation Youth and the Global Goals

Nice Dear Shahnaz Hasan

Dear Jinan,

Sustainability education and Education for Sustainable Development have been under discussion for more than two decades. Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have the important role/task of preparing graduates for professional employment, where they might expect to apply their learning. Consequence wise, the relations between the relevant theories and knowledge associated with education for Sustainability and education for sustainable development and their practical applications are critical. With the potential to facilitate a shift in sustainability thinking throughout the education sector both within the curriculum and in the governance of the institutions may work out well. Competition, or other expression of artistic understanding of sustainability, could offer expanded ways of engaging staff and students in sustainability I think.

Ashish

No soy actualmente profesor de Universidad Libre. Si su rector y enla actualidad soy Lider de Griepis , entidad avalada por la Universidad Libre, Me desempeño como miembro de Junta Directiva de Uceva y conduzco el grupo de Investigacion

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