Transformative Universities

SOME THOUGHTS ON TRANSFORMATION

Our civilisation, as we know it, is at an historical tipping point, because of the environmental wreckage we are causing in the planetary biosphere. Planetary biophysical limits will determine the future of our world and, as things stand, this may well be characterised by huge discontinuities for human and natural systems, caused by widespreadContinue reading “SOME THOUGHTS ON TRANSFORMATION”

Educating Earth Literate Leaders

We are now citizens of the Earth joined in a common enterprise with many variations. We have every right to insist that those who purport to lead us be worthy of the task. Imagine such a time! (Orr, 2003) Hundreds of delegates met late in 2019 in Madrid(Cop25) to discuss climate change and the UN’sContinue reading “Educating Earth Literate Leaders”

Quality Standards and Sustainability in our Universities

The link between quality and sustainable development is probably best exemplified in the following quote: “Human relationships based on naked self-interest (e.g., greed, envy or lust for power) maintain inequitable distribution of wealth, generate conflict and lead to scant regard for the future availability of natural resources.” An education system which mirrors these values isContinue reading “Quality Standards and Sustainability in our Universities”

Learning for Sustainability in Times of Accelerating Change

Edited by Arjen E.J. Wals and Peter Blaze Corcoran. Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2012. 550 pages. (€) 69.00 (hardback) ISBN: 978-90-8686-203-0. I reviewed this massive book for the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development in 2012 and set it in the context of a prescient album by the Indie Group ILiKETRAiNS: “And we regret theContinue reading “Learning for Sustainability in Times of Accelerating Change”

Twelve Principles for Reinventing the 21 Century University

Universities are much in the news, but it is not good news. The rise in the pandemic R number in the UK is having a profound impact on university students as they return in their thousands to campuses to find in many of them that they face total lockdown. So, no immersive quality campus experienceContinue reading “Twelve Principles for Reinventing the 21 Century University”