Higher Education: Part of the problem or part of the solution?

‘Why is it that those who contribute to exploiting poor communities and the earth’s ecosystems are those who have BAs, MBAs, MScs and PhDs and not the ‘ignorant’ poor from the South.’ David Orr (1994)

We are entering an age where the Earth’s character is being changed by people for the first time in history. We are facing a myriad of problems including climate change, ecosystems loss and human growth. Higher education understands the extent of these issues however it is yet to realize the full scale transformation that will need to take place if it is to become a facilitator of the change in society that is able to truly tackle these challenges successfully. Historically, universities and students have been an important component in bringing about progress in society, such as in the civil rights movements in the 60’s and 70’s. In facing current issues, higher education has made some important steps towards sustainability, such as the rise in the number of conservation and sustainability literate courses where current problems are taught and discussed within the curriculum. However, a much higher level of commitment is essential to address the challenge confronting the planet if it is to truly produce the visionary sustainability literate leaders that are required to see us through this global shift in consciousness.

This is a natural resources issue which is the result of, and therefore, proportionately linked to a human resources issue. The interconnectedness of these issues needs a new approach which requires the building of new mental frameworks, language and enhanced human qualities such as empathy, creativity, respect for diversity and an ability to apply ethical considerations to all areas of life. Ken Robinson, international advisor on education, believes that our current systems of education are based on the legacy of the enlightenment which is hampering the reforms now needed. They prize economic utility and intellectualism and systematically destroy creativity and imagination whilst leaving many people behind. Higher education must recognize this reality and question the role they currently play – What kind of practices and institutions do they currently strengthen? Could they be educating people to wreck the Earth more effectively? Currently we use an industrial metaphor for education which conforms to utility, linearity and standardization whereas an organic metaphor which emphasizes vitality, creativity, diversity and customization would be better equipped to deal with the challenges of the 21st century (Note 1).

Higher Education has gone through several stages in its response to the current crises. Initially the response was to imagine what a sustainable organization would look like and throughout the 1990’s, universities began to implement individual pilot projects. Leith Sharp, who headed up the world’s largest change management team at Harvard University, explains that there are many examples of great individual sustainability projects, from low-pollution transportation systems to motion sensitive light fittings. Whilst these individual projects are a great sign of a growing awareness and show a willingness to act, the implementation has been haphazard rather than a strategic overall plan that would see the entire institution modeling sustainability from it’s teaching to the campus. A University may market itself as green, implementing a sustainability policy which lays out its intentions and may even go someway towards this by achieving some of the ‘low hanging fruits’, such as introducing recycling bins. However, at the same time, another department may make a choice to invest in and keep money with a bank which has a well known reputation for investing multi-millions into fossil fuel extraction projects. Much greater institutional, systemic change is needed guided by a systems thinking perspective that will drive sustainability into the core business of higher education (Note 2).

Much change has focused on university campuses and not on the curriculum, which has been critically underdeveloped. The world is not arranged into compartments and knowledge is not neatly arranged into different disciplines; the real world is interdisciplinary and complex and the curriculum will need to reflect this if we are to find real world solutions to different challenges. Questioning whether the knowledge currently generated by research and the one disseminated through teaching is the most suitable for addressing the problems facing humanity is essential. With 90% of health research addressing the problems of 10% of the population, it seems that higher education is resolving problems and creating knowledge only for those that can afford to pay for it. Instead, we should be striving for knowledge creation to be an asset for all, particularly those most in need of it. Christina Escrigas, Executive Director, Global University Network for Innovation, suggests that we ‘should reconsider the priorities, finance them, and disseminate the achievements for the wellbeing of the whole society and not just for economic reasons’ (Note 3).

Higher Education must become places where transformational learning can take place if they are to remain relevant to the problems we now face. They must enable students to have a profound understanding of sustainable development as a social process that must be learnt; an understanding of social dimensions such as human behavior; a mutual respect for different cultures and diversity, and an ability to deal with complexity and ethical considerations applied to a variety of different scenarios (Note 4). These transformed places of higher education will not only equip students with the skills and capabilities that will be required as we move towards this uncertain future, they will also be key in generating a new conscience of being in the world. The students that graduate from higher education have the ability to make choices with positive or negative consequences, therefore higher education has a responsibility to not only to ensure that they have the right information included in the courses, but that they create the kind of knowledge, values and human capacities that will ensure a bright future for all.



Note 1: Ken Robinson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCbdS4hSa0s)
Note 2: Leith Sharp (Higher Education: the quest for the sustainable campus, ejournal.nbii.org)
Note 3 and 4: Christina Escrigas (http://web.guni2005.upc.es/interviews/detail.php?id=1184)