It is higher education's responsibility continuously to challenge and critique value and knowledge claims that have prescriptive tendencies. Part of this responsibility lies in engaging students in socio-scientific disputes. The ill-defined nature of sustainability manifests itself in such disputes when conflicting values, norms, interests, and…

Community colleges have encountered many factors that may reshape their future. Environmental imperatives weigh heavily on community colleges, as does the new integration of the sciences, such as breakthroughs in the biochemical sciences, such as the human genome project. It is also important to pay attention to the forms in which knowledge is…

Educators are accustomed to giving out grades, good and bad. However, when it comes to sustainable design and construction, it is the educators and administrators whose work is being graded. Just like the students they serve, education officials have different levels of commitment as they pursue environmentally friendly strategies in building…

Education administrators face the dual dilemma of crowded, aging facilities and tightening capital budgets. The challenge is to build the necessary classroom, laboratory and activity space while minimizing the length and expense of the construction process. One solution that offers an affordable alternative is modular construction, a method that…

A multidisciplinary learning community provided environmental management students the opportunity to work with students in different classes and majors to create designs for improving the appearance and environmental quality of a lake on a university campus. The experience increased student appreciation for the contribution of other disciplines in…

This article presents the results of two studies on using an innovative pedagogical strategy in teaching mathematical modelling and applications to engineering students. Both studies are dealing with introducing non-traditional contexts for engineering students in teaching/learning of mathematical modelling and applications: environment and…

This paper explores an approach to problem-oriented, interdisciplinary field-based courses devised by university consortia in southern Africa and Denmark. The SLUSE (Sustainable Land Use and Natural Resource Management) model has been applied on six three-week field courses within southern Africa and trained over 200 students. Student groups…

College presidents need to get a handle on the actual dimension of higher education today. They must locate themselves firmly in the context of a world that is radically different from the one that created the current systems of American colleges and universities. Without a more honest depiction, and absent an ability to accurately define,…

In environmentalist discourse, there is often an assumption that certain non-industrial peoples, usually called "traditional" or "indigenous" live in more "harmonious" relations with nature. The general argument is that instead of treating these communities as "backward" or "uncivilized," the…

This paper traces the translation processes associated with the mobilization of resources and human agency in the development of a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Innovations Course for universities in Africa. University teachers are often neglected in teacher education initiatives. There are…

In the early 1990s, in response to the emphasis laid on environment and development issues by the new South African Constitution, Rhodes University undertook several initiatives such as establishing the first Chair of Environmental Education (EE) in Africa. Another important initiative was the introduction of an open-entry participatory course for…

This paper discusses the conceptual foundations for "Education for Sustainable Patterns of Living," the mission of the Center for Ecoliteracy in California. It offers an operational definition of ecological sustainability, and proposes study of living systems as a framework for understanding ecology. It considers key concepts for…

Purpose: This paper aims to assess the impact and value of non-binding agreements or declarations in achieving sustainability in universities. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University is presented, analysing the reasons for lack of progress towards sustainability and evaluating best…

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse an initiative to provide learners on "career-based" programmes with opportunities to reflect upon their values within the context of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: An international literature review relating values and behaviour to the sustainability agenda led to the development of…

What factors encourage and sustain enduring curriculum change at a typical North American university? Like many faculty members and groups working in teaching and learning centers, the authors have been concerned with understanding how curriculum change takes place in a university. Their group, the Centre for Leadership in Learning at McMaster…