Topic 5g. Universities in transition

Topic 5. Table of contents Transforming education for sustainability Overview [+] a. Sustainability framework for higher education [+] b. Educating for living with the earth [+] c. Learning for change [+] d. Knowledge for a new paradigm [+] e. Research and teaching for sustainable livelihoods [+] f. Open to society: building sustainability together [+] g. Universities in transition.

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Whatever HEIs have done in the past –whatever roles they adopted, functions they have served, purposes they have pursued, worldviews they have assumed, and paradigms they have generated expressed and nurtured –needs to be critically reappraised for its adequacy in light of the challenges arising from the complex circumstances in which humanity currently find in every part of the world.

One of the most important challenges for universities is the need of a new idea of the university for the twenty-first century to give expression to an alternative kind of global culture to the corporate global culture. It is therefore necessary to explore the main changes that institutions need to make in order to enhance their role in building a sustainable paradigm.

An increasingly complex context for HEIs requires a transformation in their administrative structures, academic decision-making patterns, governance policy, and management systems. These transformations make us analyze how to build a shared vision and mission for HEIs and how to transform the institutions breaking the resistance for change. The universities have to develop new strategies and visualize themselves in a different way to continue with their labour.

 

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