Sustainability in Higher Education

Education ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Barth
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sustainability In Higher Education ◽  
Social Learning Processes

Since sustainable development has emerged as a normative guiding idea at the global level, it has been perceived as a “moving target” that requires deliberation and social learning processes. Consequently, the notion of learning for sustainability figures prominently in both academia and policy, and learning and education are increasingly considered important features in this regard. Education for sustainable development was first introduced in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and has since developed into a well-established educational field. Additional momentum has been gained through the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). This is even more so with the ongoing follow-up program “ESD for 2030” in which a direct link to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been made. While the implementation of this vision is supported in all educational sectors, it is higher education that has a key role to play in the overall process of striving for sustainable development. Universities generate and transfer relevant knowledge, as well as enable future change agents to contribute to a sustainable future. In addition, they act in their own organizational practice as a role model and contribute through societal outreach and service. This bibliography contains a selection of papers and volumes on themes discussed in the area of sustainability in higher education. It covers the Historical Context, various areas of universities activities and different disciplinary and regional approaches. Emphasis is given on educational activities and thus the research and practice of teaching and learning on the micro- level (courses) and the macro-level (programs).

The Impact of COVID-19 and the Role of Higher Education in Making a Sustainable Recovery

2021 ◽  
pp. 461-475
Author(s):  
Sunaina Gowan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sustainable Recovery

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the implications of COVID-19 to higher education and how universities and colleges can play a critical role in helping shape new ways for the world by adopting environmental sustainability as its academic mission. The effects of the pandemic have reached such proportions that the world may never be the same again. Even though educational institutions have been affected at different levels, there are some measures that can be undertaken to mitigate its impacts. The findings indicate the need for the integration of higher education for sustainable development. This study provides a unique and timely commentary about how coronavirus has altered in positive and negative ways higher education. It suggests that, due to its areas of influence, COVID-19 may also jeopardise the implementation of the sustainable development goals. It sends a cautious warning about the need to continue to put an emphasis on education for sustainable development, so that progress achieved to date is not endangered.

Analysis of pre-service teachers’ perception towards the economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions of Education for Sustainable Development

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 972-978
Author(s):  
Manisha Jetly ◽  
Dr. Nandita Singh
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Class Room

Education for sustainable development (ESD) enjoys a huge momentum worldwide in which the role of teachers for making sustainable development goals a reality has been recognized significantly. Teachers through their knowledge, attitudes and skills can bring the learning about these concepts to the curriculum and class room interaction and are in a position to influence their students. Therefore it is pertinent, that teachers are sensitised towards these issues, so that they prepare and nurture their students for making appropriate and responsible choices which contribute to a sustainable future. At this juncture it becomes crucial to understand their priorities and awareness level in context of the sustainable development. The present research paper aims to analyse the perception of forty post graduate pre-service teachers of the Chandigarh region, towards ESD through the dimensions of economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, social sustainability and cultural sustainability. For this researchers have adopted qualitative content analysis methodology for an in-depth study of the subjective responses through an open ended question. The findings suggest that most of the respondents associated the perception of ESD strongly with environmental sustainability. It is noted that the pre-service teachers lack a holistic approach towards ESD. On the basis of the findings it is recommended that there is an urgent need of integrating the concept of ESD consciously and conscientiously in India’s teacher education programmes.

scholarly journals Sustainable development of the universities in the 21st century

2021 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 04010
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav Ilgov ◽  
Zhanna Gardanova ◽  
Natalya Nikitina
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
High Penetration ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Global Environmental Changes

Our paper aims at assessing the sustainable development of the universities in the 21st century that is market by globalization, high penetration of information and communication technologies as well as global environmental changes. The paper stresses that the higher education is undergoing profound changes in its role and its position in the society and should focus its attention to the environmental challenges and the fight again the global warming. Higher education is ripe for reforms that are not intended to disrupt its main goals and its very essence but that might help it to modernize its approaches to achieving the up-to-date objectives that would maximize its contribution to the development of the society. Therefore, it appears that governments and the civil society alike should put more effort into embedding the sustainable development principles as well as sustainable development goals (SDG) into the educational curricular of the universities regardless to their geographical location.

scholarly journals Mathematics Applied to the Economy and Sustainable Development Goals: A Necessary Relationship of Dependence

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 339
Author(s):  
Matilde Lafuente-Lechuga ◽  
Javier Cifuentes-Faura ◽  
Úrsula Faura-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Academic Year

Higher education must include training in sustainability to make all actors aware of the serious problems our planet is facing. Mathematics plays an important role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and at the same time these allow working with real situations in the subject of mathematics, providing the student with active learning. Sustainability is used to make the student see the usefulness of mathematics while instilling values and attitudes towards it. A set of problems have been raised during the academic year that are solved with the developed mathematical techniques, and through a survey, the students’ perceptions about the usefulness of mathematics to reach the goals established in the SDG has been evaluated. The results show that, regardless of the student’s gender, the student’s assessment of the usefulness of this subject in solving real problems improved. It has been observed that this teaching methodology has helped to motivate students and even those who do not like this subject have improved their appreciation of it.

scholarly journals Teaching for a Better World. Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals in the Construction of a Change-Maker University

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 4224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Zamora-Polo ◽  
Jesús Sánchez-Martín
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Primary Teacher ◽  
Practical Consideration ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Development Goals

Sustainability, as a key concept in the education field, has submitted a relevant change during the last years. Thus, there is a growing debate about its meaning. It has undergone a crucial merging of significances from many fields: Ecology, environmental awareness, but also from politics, ethics or even spiritual approaches. All these fields have been co-involved in the building of such subject concept. In this sense, this article addresses the different ways of understanding sustainability as a polyhedral concept and how sustainability can be understood under the umbrella of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, it is proposed a conceptual framework to teach this UN Program at Higher Education, contributing to the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students from both a professional and a personal point of view. This framework is applied in a case study—in particular, in a course of Primary Teacher Degree called Didactics of Matter and Energy. This article finishes with practical consideration to build a change-maker University.

scholarly journals Contribución de la educación superior a los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible desde la docencia

2020 ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Débora Isabel Ramos Torres
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
International Association ◽  
Global Alliance ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
World Survey ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Teaching Function ◽  
The One

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become entrenched in higher education institutions (HEIs) for their commitment to training people with relevant key competencies to address them. The article examines how teaching has been configured as the dimension with the greatest potential to incorporate sustainable development and how, together with research, it is considered one of the main areas of contribution to the achievement of the SDGs, concretized in the integration of these objectives to the study plans of the official degrees that, as a training action, are carried out. From the review of the Report of the Second World Survey of the International Association of Universities on Higher Education, Research and Sustainable Development, the annual Report of the Agreement on the SDGs of the Global Alliance and the Dossier of the Spanish Network for Development Sustainable, each SDG analyzes the relevant actions of integration of these Global Objectives in the teaching function and references to experiences as case studies. The analysis of the results shows a high variability between the universities regarding the degree of approach of each of the SDGs and the tendency to identify as well-established work, the one carried out with SDG 4, as a priority from teaching. The case studies analyzed show a significant differentiation regarding the types of actions they carry out and their trends. The use of surveys such as those analyzed are insufficient to observe the development of integration in the curricula, more experiences such as that developed by REDS are needed, as well as online platforms in which teachers present their experiences of curricular redesigns and incorporation from the SDGs to the curricula and mapping of the new degrees that are emerging.   

scholarly journals Exploring Sociology of Education in the Promotion of Sustainability Literacy in Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Serpa ◽  
Maria José Sá
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Sociology Of Education ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Sustainability Literacy ◽  
Scale Levels ◽  
Key Competencies ◽  
Development Goals

Sustainability, sustainable development and education for sustainable development are increasingly central concepts, both in social practice and in the field of scientific knowledge. Sociology, and in particular Sociology of Education as a specialised Sociology, can provide relevant contributions in its promotion. This article aims to explore the importance of Sociology of Education in promoting sustainability literacy in higher education, using the Sustainable Development Goals and key competencies (United Nations and UNESCO) as the central reference in this field, and intends, thus, to become an added contribution for this discussion. The article seeks to demonstrate that the learning of sustainability literacy would benefit from the use of a sociological stance throughout this whole process that considers dimensions that are often not directly emphasised and articulated between each other, such as: interconnection of scale levels, sociological imagination, multi-paradigmatic nature, heuristic interdisciplinarity, reflexivity and use of Sociology for action.

scholarly journals ELABORATION OF THE SUSTAINABLE UNIVERSITY MODEL AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Suslenco ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Balanced Development ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Republic Of Moldova ◽  
Sustainability In Higher Education ◽  
The Republic

This paper represents a well-founded scientific approach, which elucidates the need to develop a model for ensuring the sustainability in higher education institutions. The aim of the paper is to develop its own model of sustainable development of universities in the Republic of Moldova in order to increase their competitiveness. The research problem is to find an optimal model with the purpose of ensuring a sustainable development of universities in the Republic of Moldova. The research question: what model of sustainable development can be applied to higher education institutions in the Republic of Moldova. Therefore, in this context, several models of the sustainable development of higher education institutions were reviewed, and towards the end, the own model of ensuring sustainability within the universities of the Republic of Moldova was developed. The model includes an innovative approach on the creation of a sustainable university in the conditions of the Republic of Moldova. The model proposed by us is based on ensuring a balanced development from an ecological-economic-social point of view, along with the most important levels that must be developed within a university in order to ensure a sustainable development. The research methodology focused on the use of a range of relevant methods such as: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, abduction, documentation, scientific abstraction, which helped us to advance in research and obtain the expected results. In conclusion, we can reiterate that each university, which claims to step firmly on the path of competitiveness and is able to raise students’ interest, motivate their development, create notoriety among stakeholders, has to develop a model of sustainable, viable, competitive development that could ensure a secure path in the future. The model proposed by us is a viable one, and deserves to be applied in the context of increasing competitive pressures. This model will help the universities to deal with competition, to overcome the problems and challenges faced by higher education institutions in the Republic of Moldova, such as the decrease of college enrolment rate and the number of students, the diminution of notoriety, lack of viable tools applied within the university in the interest of ensuring competitive advantages. Applying our own model constitutes an innovative approach for strengthening the sustainability in higher education institutions based on effective tools that will definitely contribute to increasing the performance and ensuring sustainability in higher education institutions in the Republic of Moldova.

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