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GHESP
Partenariat global pour l’enseignement supérieur
au service de la durabilité
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In 2002, four
international organisations with a strong
commitment to making sustainability a major focus of higher education
formed a “Global Higher Education for
Sustainability Partnership (GHESP)”.
The four founding partners of the initiative - the International
Association of Universities (IAU), the University Leaders for a
Sustainable Future (ULSF)
(external link)
and UNESCO
(external link) -combined forces in a unique effort to mobilise
universities and higher education institutions to support sustainable
development in response to Chapter
36 of Agenda 21 (external link)
The partnership came about as a result of the work program of the
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and in anticipation of the
2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
The rationale for the partnership
was the consensus that higher education must play a central role within
the overall process of achieving sustainable development. The
partners are still convinced that the leaders of higher education
institutions and their academic colleagues in all disciplines must make
sustainable development a central academic and organizational focus in
order to create a just, equitable and ecologically sound future. This
requires the generation and dissemination of knowledge through
interdisciplinary research and teaching, policy-making,
capacity-building, and technology transfer. It is critical that
higher education institutions understand and accept their
responsibility within the broader context of social and economic
development, and the building of democratic, equitable and
ecologically-minded societies.
The objectives of the
partnership were to:
- Promote better understanding, and more effective
implementation of strategies for the incorporation of sustainable
development in universities and other higher education institutions,
beginning with the over 1000 signatories to the charters and
declarations sponsored by the partner organizations. Emphasis is put on
the need for interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and research;
- Undertake a global review and assessment of progress
in making sustainability central to curriculum, research, outreach and
operations in institutions of higher education. In so doing,
assist UNESCO in its role within the UN system with respect to
education for sustainable development;
- Identify, share and disseminate widely, via internet,
in print, through seminars and other venues, effective strategies,
models and good practices for promoting higher education for
sustainable development (HESD);
- Make recommendations on HESD based on the
partnership's research and review and in consultation with key
stakeholders from North and South, including business, governments,
other UN bodies such as the United Nations University (UNU), as well as
other relevant non-governmental organizations;
- Demonstrate that it is possible to form a partnership
of non-governmental organizations working closely with the UN system to
develop and implement a joint action plan addressed to achieve common
goals; and analyze this experience as an international demonstration
project.
After having initiated projects and other activities for more than 5
years, the partnership ceased its activities.
Documents and outcomes
· Memorandum of
Understanding (pdf, 16 kb) and Action
Plan (rtf, 128 kb)
· Lüneburg
Declaration on Higher Education for Sustainable Development (rtf,
68 kb)
· Joint publication IAU / ULSF
journals on the theme of higher education for sustainable development Higher
Education Policy (15/2, June 2002) and International Journal of
Sustainability in Higher Education (3/3, July 2002)
· Development of Type II Partnership (rtf, 356 kb) as
a
major higher education outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD)
· International
Conference on Education for a Sustainable Future Shaping the
practical role of higher education for sustainable development.
10 - 11 September 2003, Charles University in Prague, the Czech
Republic.
• Regional Consultations
• Multiple contributions to debates, conference, etc
aiming developing HESD.
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