Search

Many HEIs struggle to find meaningful ways to include students in the journey of integrating sustainability and fostering student leadership for SD. The TLS framework (Cavagnaro and Curiel, 2012) emphasizes the need for taking responsibility and accepting the role of a change agent for sustainability. Students can be apt to take on this role as change agent for SD want to engage, but peripheral roles, disregard for their “lay” knowledge, and lack of space to take responsibility can inhibit their engagement in SD in HEI. HEIs need to engage student populations from the beginning of their higher education career by informing them of the HEI perspective, respecting and meaningfully incorporating their insights through engagement interfaces, incorporating SD early enough in their curricula—by means of student-activating learning, and by creating space for students to take on responsibilities for SD within the context of the HEI and beyond. The learning potential of volunteerism and active, out-of-class activities needs to be further explored and exploited by HEIs. Modern day student perceptions of SD are sophisticated, and require a holistic approach that recognizes the complex interactions of the three pillars of sustainability. In this paper, the collaboration between a Belgian HEI and a European student network was explored in an attempt to extrapolate concrete actions that allow HEIs to actively engage students for SD. no isbn ispartof: Proceedings of the 7th Conference of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) ispartof: Conference of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) location:Istanbul, Turkey date:4 Jun - 6 Jun 2013 status: published

Assessing the integration of sustainability in higher education can be a powerful lever for organisational change in higher education institutions. When comparing the available tools and instruments for assessment of sustainability in higher education, the Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education (AISHE) has proven to be a reliable tool, providing a qualitative approach to sustainability assessment. This article presents the AISHE tool and discusses its use in two higher education institutions in Belgium. Included in this work is an analysis of the audits in several study programs, and an independent evaluation of the instrument based on literature and Belgian good practices. The experiences of the Belgian institutions with sustainability assessment tools can motivate other higher education institutions around the world to start up sustainability assessment in their institution. ispartof: Sustainability Assessment Tools in Higher Education Institutions Sustainability Assessment Tools in Higher Education Institutions: Mapping Trends and Good Practices Around the World pages:157-174 edition:IX ispartof: pages:157-174 edition:IX edition: IX status: published

The aim of this paper is to stimulate the debate about higher education as a (potential) major catalyst towards sustainable development. Reviewing the contemporary literature related to sustainable development and higher education we want to understand better this role as (potential) catalyst and move Flemish higher education forward in its sustainability transition. It should be noted that while this paper will provide a broad understanding of the literature, it is beyond its scope to deal with each aspect in full depth. Interested readers are therefore encouraged to use the cited literature in this paper as a source to guide them in a more in-depth examination of the literature. What we aim at is to provide points of reference for various higher education stakeholders, institutions and individuals by dealing with four crucial questions: 1) what is sustainable development about? 2) how to conceive the role of higher education in sustainable development? 3) what are the key aspects of sustainable higher education? 4) what are the major barriers and ways forward in moving Flemish higher education in a (more) sustainable direction? Higher education is generally seen as a major (potential) catalyst towards sustainable development, in particular through its traditional missions of education, research and public service [2-4]. During the last two decades higher education institutions worldwide have implemented various sustainable development initiatives. In Flanders for example, most universities have signed the COPERNICUS Charter which dedicates universities to becoming leaders in SD through their various activities, including research, education, public service and campus operations. There have been numerous other sustainability initiatives at the institutional level in Flanders, and some regional overarching ones have been undertaken (for example “Ecocampus”, “Fenix”, “Sociale Economie op de Campus” and “Duurzaam Hoger Onderwijs Vlaanderen”) [5]. Ecocampus, currently in its second term, is a project of the Environment, Nature and Energy Department of the Flemish Government that aims to catalyze the implementation of environmental management and SD in Flemish higher education. In support of this objective, Ecocampus initiated a participatory process in 2012 (“Sustainable Higher Education – Beyond Knowledge” or in Dutch “Duurzaam Hoger Onderwijs – De Kennis Voorbij”) involving different stakeholders such as the higher education sector itself and other policy areas [6]. This paper is part of that process. status: published

nrpages: 28 status: published