University Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Volume 20

The aim of sustainable development goals (SDGs) announced in 2015 by United Nations was to ensure that all students and scholars are being able to acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. The role of higher education is important when it comes to educating students in sustainability and sustainable developments. Universities can have a great influence on achieving social and economic progress of a country as well as protecting the environment and addressing complex issues that plague society. The role of universities is not only restricted to exchange of knowledge but also in playing a leading role as an active member of society. Universities have come out of their isolation to accommodate and be a part of social change and actively engage in community’s life and activities and not being confined to only classrooms and laboratories. Universities need to work closely with industry and non-governmental and non-profit bodies to identify the needs of society and address them productively and work toward achieving common goals and objectives. In this book, authors have explored various facets of SDGs and how well universities have been able to integrate those goals into their curriculum and to institutionalize those goals into their strategic plans and institutional culture. Authors from Nigeria, sub Saharan Africa, Italy, and Middle East have elaborated how to achieve this in the face of shifting expectations, student debt, and graduate mobility. As a result, this volume shows how some universities are cultivating SDGs both on- and off campus.

The phenomenon of globalization is a popular and controversial issue that has many facets. According to Lee and Vivarelli 2006), most conversations around globalization tend to describe it in terms of increase in trade and liberalization policies and reduction in transportation costs and technology transfer. Heine and Thakur (2011) opine on globalization as follows:

Many regard globalization as both a desirable and an irreversible engine of commerce that will underpin growing prosperity and a higher standard of living throughout the world. Others recoil from it as the soft underbelly of corporate imperialism that plunders and profiteers on the basis of unrestrained consumerism. (p. 2)

Many regard globalization as both a desirable and an irreversible engine of commerce that will underpin growing prosperity and a higher standard of living throughout the world. Others recoil from it as the soft underbelly of corporate imperialism that plunders and profiteers on the basis of unrestrained consumerism. (p. 2)

The Brundtland Report (1987) was put together in response to agitations over such loses/discontents. This report gave birth to what unarguably is the most popular concept in sustainable development. The Report features the integration of the concerns about strands of development as experienced and as projected across divides, as well as concerns about their interrelationship, and effects on people and the environment. It seeks to reconcile the future with current developments. The recommendations of the report in the end materialized into the millennium development goals (MDGs) in January 2000, which in turn metamorphosed into the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in January 2016. The bulk of the SDGs are to be achieved in the global-south as countries within this categorization including Nigeria have more to do within their territories in order to ensure its actualization. One of the major challenges facing the SDGs in Nigeria is institutionalizing mobilization for the actualization of the goals. Against this backdrop, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was launched to bring on board academic institutions, civil societies, non-governmental organizations, and businesses, and mobilize their activities into fewer but more efficient units.

This chapter contextually explores the purpose and roles of the SDSN in Nigeria, and conceptualizes how it will play out for both sustainable development and qualitative participation in globalization. It identified and explored the interface between the three variables of universities: cooperativism, cooperatives, cooperation, and solidarity economics; communities as integral to the actualization of the SDGs; and proportionate participation in globalization. Deficiencies were identified, and remedial actions proffered.

European projects from a wide list of subjects are sharing and promoting good practice in knowledge development but there appears to be opportunities to exploit the findings of these projects more effectively, especially relating to sustainability issues, in the implementation and development of robust curricula within higher education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

A detailed description will be given of an example of a partnership between several universities from Sweden, France, Romania, and Lebanon related to a high-profile industry area: oil and gas. This partnership was created within a European Project carried out during the 2015–2018 period. The importance of this project is focused on how energy issues play an important role in the global development of industrial and underdeveloped countries. Energy issues are commonly accompanied with the challenging trade-off of energy production and environmental sustainability. The research project evaluates the creation and delivery of a new curriculum at the Lebanese universities based upon the joint effort and support of the European partners of the Project Consortium.

The overall aim of the project was to promote academic excellence through an academic network and by joint research, education, and exchange of experience, but also knowledge that has led to the high-quality curriculum. It is expected that this will contribute in the sustainable development of the Lebanese higher educational system. The project is in perfect alignment with the EU Commission’s action aiming to deepen the knowledge of extraction technologies and practices of unconventional gas and oil while minimizing potential health and environmental risks. The project succeeded in the delivery and the transfer of specific knowledge, through a more effective curriculum, for future educators and offers students a high-quality educational experience preparing them for the oil and gas industry.

In this chapter, the authors will discuss the global learning partnership (GLP), which is an innovative and evidence-informed model of experiential learning for health professional students. The model is based on partnerships between universities to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda.

The GLP is a placement opportunity for an inter-professional cohort of visiting and local students and academics, designed as an action-orientated, community engagement learning experience focused on addressing community health and well-being needs (Goal 3). Consistent with the SDGs, strong partnerships (Goal 17) are essential to lasting impact.

The aim of developing the GLP was to design, implement, and trial a new model of global placement that was sustainable, capacity building, and a genuine learning opportunity for local and international health science students, driven by the agenda to increase learning about and action on the SDGs. This model was designed to harness the strengths of existing educational frameworks recognized for the beneficial learning opportunities they provide; inter-professional learning; learning from and with communities with SDG needs; and with a three-week immersion component for building cultural competency.

In addition to focusing on the SDG agenda, the GLP is unique in drawing on the knowledge and skills of local students and academics in educating the visiting students to work in geopolitically and socioculturally complex community setting building, as visitors learn from both local students and the local community about best practice.

This chapter will provide discussion of the theoretical framework underpinning the model design and draw on the student and academic experience. Practice details are also provided to allow educators in other organizations to replicate the partnership model.

The use of campuses as living, learning labs for sustainability education, and the advancement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a growing trend at post-secondary institutions across North America. Post-secondary institutions are embracing this approach to advance sustainability and the SDGs both on- and off-campus and to cultivate the next generation of sustainability leaders. Recognizing the diverse stages of living lab program maturation between campuses, and the fact that living lab practitioners are often working in isolation, the Campus as Lab Community of Practice (CaL CoP) was created to enable peer-to-peer learning and to catalyze the development and potential of living lab programs toward meeting the SDGs in a coordinated fashion. The CaL CoP members have identified the opportunity to use a collective approach to advance the SDGs on their home campuses. A collective approach enables CaL CoP members to account for their contributions to advancing the SDGs in a way that is relevant to their local context while highlighting the global impact of their actions. Challenges to utilizing this approach include collaborating remotely, resourcing, and maintaining momentum.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) face unique barriers to implementation of environmental management systems (EMSs) compared to the private sector, where formal EMS approaches such as ISO 14001 are widely used. HEIs across the world have tended to adopt structured EMSs through less formal methods or apply bespoke approaches based on institutional drivers for implementation. This chapter explores organizational factors specific to HEIs that impact on their ability to implement and sustain formal EMS approaches. An in-depth review was undertaken examining key organization barriers to EMS adoption, and organizational factors specific to HEIs that can affect the successful implementation and sustainability of EMS approaches. The study finds that considerations of the key actors, existing organizational structures, governance and leadership, and resistance to change are important areas to consider in the implementation of an EMS within an HEI. UK HEIs are used as a case study to examine the relationship between EMS uptake and performance, and identify trends toward the adoption of various types of systems. We find that a trend toward the adoption of more formalized EMS approaches among UK HEIs contradicts the suggestion from the literature that less-formal approaches may be more suitable. The study challenges the assumption that formal approaches to environmental management such as ISO 14001 and Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) provide the gold standard EMS, suggesting that alternative standards may be more suitable in the context of the unique organizational structures and key barriers to EMS implementation faced by HEIs.

The importance of knowledge regarding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is universally recognized, but less commonly actualized in health professional curricula. This chapter examines how SDG awareness has been embedded into curricula and extra-curricula activity in four different University settings: The University of Melbourne (Australia); Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico); Lund University (Sweden); and the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom). It is informed by the work of academics representing single health disciplines from the four universities. All academics are actively involved with the Universitas 21 Health Science Group (U21HSG) SDG strategic group. The chapter will outline shared and unique projects that are directed at increasing students awareness for targeted action to achieve the global goals.

With a crowded curriculum, lack of SDG expertise and a belief that health professional learning should focus on a single goal (Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), there are significant challenges to growing SDG relevant knowledge and skills within existing programs. We provide examples of how these challenges were met, such as through the development of SDG learning outcomes to fit within a physiotherapy curriculum renewal and the running and management of service learning refugee clinics by medical students. We will briefly examine our key learning and make recommendations on providing SDG relevant learning opportunities for students. The chapter will provoke and challenge the reader to consider how they are addressing the sustainability goals and how they can overcome perceived barriers to educating students for a sustainable world.

In the present era of the sustainable development goals (United Nations, 2015), what is the trajectory of education and social development in Kenya and other sub-Saharan African countries? What forces are impinging on decision-making and how are these forces in turn supporting systemic development that relies on national policy-making and implementation frameworks? What is the role and purpose of higher education institutions, particularly to underwrite quality and relevance? Finally, what are the intended outcomes, and what benefits accrue to the citizenry?

These complex and contested questions require conceptual, theoretical, and methodological tools to address. This chapter outlines the initiative and mandate of the Aga Khan University (AKU) that has led on quality assurance and enhancement linked to faculty educational development to promote excellence in teaching in higher education institutions in East Africa. AKU is presented as a qualitative case study, building on a descriptive analysis of published work, to elucidate issues and opportunities that must be addressed by higher education institutions with regard to the SDGs from the lens of quality.

Assessing the initiatives of AKU raises critical questions of the role of education, particularly higher education institutions, to support development that in turn address and advance the diverse needs of global populations. Arguably, this is the transformative function of the SDGs.

Transnational education (TNE) is evolving. It has moved from a necessity-driven model to a more balanced collaboration between host nation and sending institution. As a result of this shift, the issue of sustainability looms large. As the sector has matured, the primary drive is no longer economic and as a result, integration and relevance to context are promoted and cultivated. Universities are looking for long-term engagement and, therefore, must choose partners wisely.

Sustainability for the long-term success of an institution in a host nation is often measured by the extent to which a higher education institution (HEI) can integrate and demonstrate value. This is perhaps most often demonstrated now by employability. In the face of shifting expectations, student debt, and graduate mobility, attention must be paid to relevance of learning and inherent value of degree. We still understand relatively little about the impact and legacy of TNE, or the role it can play in the employability agenda and this is at the heart of the sustainability debate in international higher education (HE).

The issue of access, while not solved for all, has perhaps been replaced in literature with impact, or indeed, legacy (McNamara & Knight, 2014). What is the value of international HE, and to whom? As institutions look to further their global reach, both as a response to shifting recruitment patterns and visa concerns and in order to pursue new funding opportunities and industry partners, a closer examination of university partnerships, both with other institutions and further afield, is required. New models provide new opportunities but are they simply more efficient and less costly ways of achieving the goal of student recruitment? The questions that should be asked are fundamentally why are universities engaging in international activity and who ultimately benefits?

This chapter will highlight key examples of sustainable partnership models. These cases will serve as a valuable resource for policy makers, universities, and HE practitioners. The chapter will explore examples from different countries and contexts, in order to identify core elements of a university partnership that promote, enhance, and support sustainability and do not rely on traditional models of fixed campus presence.

The proposed chapter will focus on university partnerships for sustainable development, specifically in relation to the health and social care sector. As this is a burgeoning field of research and enterprise, this chapter would provide a valuable resource and much-needed exploration of how and with whom universities partner in terms of sustainability in health and social care.

The majority of universities have health sciences and social care departments delivering courses at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctorate levels. As such, the chapter presents the range of opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and working, shares methods to foster social responsibility through partnerships between students, staff, clinicians, and service users, and acknowledges the prospect of lifelong learning that partnerships in sustainability can generate.

This chapter points out that many higher education institutions (HEIs) have responded to daunting sustainability challenges by (1) infusing sustainability into the curriculum; (2) becoming engaged with the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs); and (3) building on Boyer’s scholarship of engagement, developing partnerships for sustainability with various sectors of society through service–learning (SL). Perhaps our most daunting sustainability challenge is climate change, with its accompanying catastrophic biodiversity loss and widespread human misery from rising oceans, flooding, drought, wildfires, and extreme weather events. It has been shown that the food sector, or agriculture, has a great impact on climate change. For that reason the non-governmental organization (NGO) Intervale Center (IC), a recognized leader in sustainable agriculture, was selected as a partner for a University of Vermont (UVM) SL course in environmental interpretation (EI). IC and its programs are presented, followed by an explanation of EI. A case study of a university partnership for sustainability – a linkage between IC and the EI course – is then shared. The mechanics of that partnership are offered, and the resulting student creations. Finally, conclusions are drawn, especially the importance of HEIs networking with other sectors to work toward sustainable futures.