Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Higher Education for Sustainable Development

Higher education has a vital role to play in shaping the way in which future generations learn to cope with the complexities of sustainable development. Universities and higher education institutions educate highly qualified graduates and responsible citizens able to meet the needs of all sectors of human activity;
1. they provide opportunities for higher learning and for learning throughout life;
2. they advance, create and disseminate knowledge through research and provide, as part of their service to the community, relevant expertise to assist societies in cultural, social and economic development;
3. they help understand, interpret, preserve, enhance, promote and disseminate national and regional, international and historic cultures in a context of cultural pluralism and diversity;
4. they help protect and enhance societal values by training young people in the values which form the basis of democratic citizenship;
5. they contribute to the development and improvement of education at all levels, including through the training of teachers.


In considering the roles and functions of higher education institutions in promoting sustainable development, issues to be particularly addressed include:
1. increasing the relevance of teaching and research for the societal processes leading to more sustainable and discouraging unsustainable patterns of life;
2. improving the quality and efficiency of teaching and research;
3. bridging the gap between science and education, and traditional knowledge and education;
4. strengthening interactions with actors outside the university, in particular with local communities and businesses;
5. introducing decentralized and flexible management concepts;
6. offering access to scientific knowledge of good quality;
7. enabling students to obtain the competences needed to work together in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams in participatory processes; bringing the global dimension into individual learning environments.

http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42195&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

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