Purpose: To highlight that, for higher education (HE) to fulfil its role and provide societies with the required knowledge and competencies that will enable a sustainable future, through research, education and campus operations, it needs to cooperate and promote interdisciplinarity within the sector and with society at large.…

Universities can play a key role in contributing to a sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants. In times of constant changes, there is a growing urgency to reflect on the vision of universities as well as their respective practices and projects that can promote the creation of sustainable societies. As is evident in scholarly…

Education plays an important role in the dissemination of neoliberal narratives. The neoliberal approach to education focuses on human capital and subordinates people to the pure logic of the market. It shapes educational processes in a considerable way, including Human Rights Education (HRE) and Peace Education (PE). The conscious perception and…

Higher education offers the potential to support glonacal (global, national, and local) development. This study presents new empirical and conceptual insights into the ways in which higher education can help to achieve and exceed the outcomes enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Open-ended online surveys were used to learn how academics…

Many policy makers and scholars consider higher education to be a key driver for states' implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); however, the impact of higher education in national SDGs adoption likely differs, based on features and characteristics of particular states. Hence, this study has two aims: (a) to analyse the public…

This book discusses the central role education and research play in generating both value and comparative advantages in the (imageries of) global competition, competitiveness and transnational value chains. They are seen as "assets" placed at the forefront of developments that are arguably reshaping individuals, society and economy. This…

This dissertation examines how Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and Traditional Knowledge (TK) systems interact with Western Scientific Knowledge (WSK) in contemporary efforts to reintroduce traditional agro ecosystems and build transnational collaborations among Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). I focus on the role of education, broadly…

Norway has a complex, even paradoxical, relationship to the United Nations Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It makes considerable financial contributions to the United Nations and has strongly supported the establishment of the sustainability agenda aimed at promoting global equity and mitigating the ecological and climate…

This article explores the impact of Chet Bowers' scholarship on critical and ecojustice studies of the relationship between commons and enclosure in educational theory. In the eyes of critical scholars, enclosure tends to thwart social justice. In the eyes of ecojustice scholars, enclosure tends to accelerate environmental degradation.…

The framing of education and learning in sustainable development has evolved out of global environment and development discussions to shape how knowledge, learning and action are applied in efforts to address complex socio-ecological and sustainability challenges of the times. Such framings have over time contributed not only to the establishment…

Climate change is an ongoing process that, at the current pace of such activities, cannot be avoided. Tools have been proposed to deal with climate change focus on adaptation and mitigation. Strengthening national and international awareness of and commitment to reducing the impact of climate change has become the only viable option to ensure the…

The complex nature of contemporary challenges requires a culture of cooperation between academic disciplines. However, to what extent do educational systems prepare students to think beyond the boundaries of austerely defined and often entrenched academic fields? UNESCO has successively called for Environmental Education, Education for Sustainable…

The planet seems to be heading into an ecological catastrophe, in which the earth will become uninhabitable for many species, including human beings. At the same time we humans are beset by appalling injustices. The Rio Declaration which addressed both these sets of problems contains conceptual contradictions about "development" and…

The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) believes that higher education is uniquely placed to help address global challenges -- not least through informing policy with research evidence, and through graduating generations of new leaders and skilled professionals. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) did not explicitly reference higher…

Education is often perceived in policy agendas as playing a transformative role in realising sustainable development and the SDGs on the continent. The assumption is based, however, on an insufficiently critical understanding of the historical role of education in supporting unsustainable development. The article provides a critical account of the…