Global Challenges

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MOLLY N.N. LEE, UNESCO BANGKOK, email
m.lee_at_unescobkk.org
Reorienting Higher Education Toward
Participatory and Sustainable Development

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Content

• University Social Responsibility
• Education for Participatory and Sustainable
  Development (ESD)
• Sustainability Literacy

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University Social Responsibility (USR)

• What?
• Why?
• How?

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Multiple Roles of Universities

• Economic Dev human resource development,
  knowledge production, technological inventions.
• Political Dev political socialization, political
  elite, national unity
• Cultural Dev producer, protector and inculcator
  of national culture
• Social Dev critical analysis of social issues,
  inclusion of discordant voices

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Participatory Development

• Definition
• PD is a bottom-up, people-centred approach aimed
  at developing the full potential of people at the
  grassroots level, especially the poor and
  marginal social groups, through their full
  participation in development efforts that
  directly affect their lives

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Sustainable Development

• Development that can
• meet the needs of the present without comprising
  the ability of future generations to meet their
  own needs
• Brundtland Report of the World Commission on
  Environment and Development, 1987.

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DECADE of ESD

• Decade for ESD (2005-2014)
• Vision A world where everyone has the
  opportunity to benefit from education and learn
  the values, behaviours, and lifestyles required
  for a sustainable future and for positive
  societal transformation.
• 3 pillars of ESD
• Society
• Environment
• Economy
• Culture as an underlying dimension

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Key characteristics of ESD

• Interdisciplinary and holistic
• Values-driven
• Focused on critical thinking and problem solving
• Multi-methodological
• Participatory in decision-making
• Locally relevant

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Domains of ESD

• Reforming the structure and nature of basic
  education
• Reorienting existing education programmes
• Developing public awareness about what
  sustainability means
• Building capacity within education systems and
  across all other ESD partners.

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HE and PD/SD

• Institutional change
• Programatic change

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Institutional Initiatives

• Policy environment, resource allocation,
  personnel recruitment, role model
• Environmental sustainability
• Examples green buildings, green campus, healthy
  campus

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Sustainability in curricula

• Sustainability literate graduates
• Post-graduate programmes
• ESD-related courses for undergraduates
• Embedded ESD curricula
• Compulsory ESD courses

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Sustainability Literate

• Aim
• Prepare people of all walks of life to plan and
  find solutions for issues that threaten the
  sustainability of our planet and the well-being
  of all

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Sustainability literate graduates

• Understand the need to change to a sustainable
  way of doing things, individually and
  collectively
• Have sufficient knowledge and skills to decide
  and act in a way that favours sustainable
  development and
• Be able to recognize and reward other peoples
  decision and actions that favour sustainable
  development.

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Key Competencies for ESD

• Competency in foresighted thinking
• Competency in interdisciplinary work
• Competency in transcultural understanding and
  cooperation
• Participatory skills
• Competency in self-motivation
• motivating others
• capacity for empathy,
• compassion solidarity

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Universally shared values

• Equality, equity, justice, fairness
• Freedom, participation, inclusion
• Peace and non violence
• Respect, diversity, tolerance, understanding
• Mutual respect
• Human dignity, individual worth
• Responsibility personal, social, civic,
  environmental
• Care and concern for others, compassion,
  collective well being
• Honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability
• Reconciliation, truth, forgiveness

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Barriers and solutions

• Barrier
• Crowded curriculum
• Irrelevance
• Limited staff awareness/expertise
• Limited institutional commitment

• Solution
• Review curricula
• Development of teaching materials
• Staff development
• Develop a buy-in

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Concluding Remarks

• Support and funding should be provided
• Action research on the connection between ESD and
  employability
• Action research on career opportunities

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THANK YOU