What
is higher education’s role in addressing sustainability in society?
Society
increasingly expects higher education to play a leading role in addressing the
sustainability crisis. This trend seems to have started since Agenda 21, which directed
universities worldwide into the driving seat of society’s quest for
sustainability.
What’s
more, there seems to be a moral responsibility angle, based on the argument that higher
education has to some extent contributed to society’s sustainability crisis in the first place.
For example, on one hand universities are organised around disciplines,
resulting in what is termed as ‘knowledge silos,’ without much conversation
between disciplines. On the other hand, sustainability issues are complex and
require a holistic approach to knowledge generation and dissemination. This indicates
a mismatch between society’s needs and higher education’s provision in teaching
and research.
Such issues have led to analyses like that of UNESCO (2012),
‘Our current knowledge base does not contain the
solutions to contemporary global environmental, societal and economic
problems.’ The sustainability crisis is therefore usually interpreted as ‘a
knowledge crisis’ (Parker
2010).
In
modern society university is the pinnacle of knowledge generation and
dissemination. Because of their crucial role in educating and training future
leaders and decision-makers, they can have great influence on their knowledge,
skills and values. Besides the relative freedom that higher education enjoys
gives it room for innovation for sustainability. So, not only higher education
should play a leading role in sustainability, it has great potential to do so.
There
is, however, no firm agreement on what higher education’s sustainability
leadership role should be. In general, it could be viewed as comprising
‘developing future citizens, guiding policy development, exchanging knowledge,
supporting communities, and using academic freedom to fuel further enterprise
and innovation’ (Ryan et al 2010: 116) with a view of building a sustainable
world.
What
has been higher education’s response to this sustainability challenge,
especially in the UK? The next post will look at that.
Resources on higher education’s
role in sustainability
2013
2012
Greening Universities Toolkit (draft) (UNEP)The role of higher education in addressing sustainability (Defra)
GreenUniversities
2011
How can higher education institutions become more sustainable? (The Guardian)
2008
2009
Sustainable development in higher education: 2008 updateto strategic statement and action plan (HEFCE)
2005
Sustainable Development in Higher Education: CurrentPractice and Future Developments (The Sustainability Information Teaching
Exchange)
1996
Sustainable Development on Campus (International Institute for Sustainable Development
IISD)
Undated
Sustainable Development (HEFCE)
Sustainable Development (SFC)
Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) on ESD (UN
University)
People’ssustainability treaty on higher education (University of Gloucestershire)
References &
Bibliography
Beringer,
A. and Adomssent, M. (2008) Sustainable university research and development:
inspecting sustainability in higher education research. Environmental
Education Research, 14(6),
pp.607-623.
Chalkley, B. and Sterling, S. (2011) Hard times in higher education: the closure of subject centres and the implications for education for sustainable development (ESD). Sustainability, 3, pp. 666-677.
Djordjevic, A. and Cotton, D.R.E. (2011) Communicating the sustainability message in higher education institutions. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 12(4), pp. 381-394.
Ferrer-Balas, D; Lozano, R; Huisingh, D; Buckland, H; Ysern, P; Zilahy, G (2010) Going beyond the rhetoric: system-wide changes in universities for sustainable societies, Journal of Cleaner Production, 18, pp.607-610
Minguet, P.A., Martinez-Agut, M.P., Palacios, B., Pinero, A. and Ull, M.A. (2011) Introducing sustainability into university curricula: an indicator and baselines survey of the views of university teachers at the University of Valencia. Environmental Education Research, 17(2), pp. 145-166.
Parker, J. (2010) Competencies for interdisciplinarity in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(4), pp.325-338.
Ryan, A., Tilbury, D., Corcoran, P.B., Abe, O. and Nomura, K. (2010) Sustainability in higher education in the Asia-Pacific: developments, challenges, and prospects. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(2), pp.106-199.
Scott, W. and Gough, S. (2007) Universities and sustainable development: the necessity for barriers to change. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 11 (4), pp. 107-115.
Stephens, J. C. and Graham, A.C. (2010) Toward an empirical research agenda for sustainability in higher education: exploring the transition management framework. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(7), pp. 611-618.
UNESCO (2012) Education for Sustainable Development [Online] Available from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/education-for-sustainable-development/ (Accessed 27 November 2012)
Waas, T., Verbruggen, A. and Wright, T. (2010) University research for sustainable development: definition and characteristics explored. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18, pp. 629-636.
Wright, T.S.A. and Wilton, H. (2012) Facilities management directors’ conceptualizations of sustainability in higher education. Journal of Cleaner Production, 31, pp. 118-125.
Photograph by Asitha Jayawardena
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