Higher Education for Sustainability

This book explores how higher education and sustainability interact in New Zealand, and argues that higher education at present may be contributing as much to unsustainability as it does to sustainability. It considers how education, and higher education in particular, works alongside a wide range of other life experiences to impact individuals' attitudes and actions. In turn, it envisions a form of higher education that supports graduates to decide what their contribution to a sustainable future will be. This book addresses those aspects of higher education that are best suited to fostering the development of students' abilities and dispositions to think deeply, critically and independently about the world, and how higher education will know if it is on the right track if it chooses this path.

This book explores how higher education and sustainability interact in New Zealand, and argues that higher education at present may be contributing as much to unsustainability as it does to sustainability. It considers how education, and higher education in particular, works alongside a wide range of other life experiences to impact individuals’ attitudes and actions. In turn, it envisions a form of higher education that supports graduates to decide what their contribution to a sustainable future will be. This book addresses those aspects of higher education that are best suited to fostering the development of students’ abilities and dispositions to think deeply, critically and independently about the world, and how higher education will know if it is on the right track if it chooses this path.

Part 1.- Chapter 1 About Higher Education for Sustainable Development and for Sustainability in New Zealand, and Elsewhere.- Chapter 2 Campus Sustainability.- Chapter 3 University Teacher as Critic and Conscience of Society.- Chapter 4 Environmental Education in New Zealand.- Chapter 5 Roles and Responsibilities for Higher Education in New Zealand, and Elsewhere.- Chapter 6 Global Perspectives and Competitive Individualism.- Part 2.- Chapter 7 What Guides Our Beliefs and Actions?.- Chapter 8 On Deep, Critical and Independent Thinking and Why It Is So Challenging for Higher Education to Teach These Things.- Part 3.- Chapter 9 Community Engagement and Higher Education’s Third Mission.- Chapter 10 Empowering Students in Higher Education.- Chapter 11 On Assessment and Evaluation, and Researching the Practices of Higher Education.- A Final Conversation with a Critical Friend.