Internationale Hochschulpartnerschaften - Förderung nachhaltiger Entwicklung und Globalen Lernens?

Mit dem Förderprogramm „Fachbezogene Partnerschaften mit Hochschulen in Entwicklungsländern“ unterstützt der Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) deutsche Hochschulen bei strukturbildenden Kooperationsvorhaben mit Partnern in Ländern des Südens. Die deutsch-ausländische Kooperation soll beiden Seiten neue Impulse in der Lehre geben und zur Bildung von neuen Strukturen an der ausländischen Hochschule beitragen. Das Institut für Umweltkommunikation der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg unterhält seit 2009 vom DAAD geförderte Partnerschaftsprojekte mit Hochschulen in Ecuador und Peru. Die wissenschaftliche Begleitung des Projekts „Nachhaltigkeit lehren und lernen“ mit der Universidad Técnica del Norte (UTN), Ecuador, zeigt, dass es an der UTN zur Integration des Leitbilds einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung in Lehre, Forschung und Verwaltung beiträgt und für alle Beteiligten Möglichkeiten des Globalen Lernens eröffnet. Es werden aber auch Herausforderungen der Nord-Süd-Hochschulkooperation deutlich. (DIPF/Orig.)With the programme “Subject-related Partnerships with Universities in Developing Countries” the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supports German universities in structure-building cooperation projects with partners in countries of the South. The German-foreign cooperation aims at giving both sides new impulses in teaching and the formation of new structures at the foreign university. Since 2009 the Institute for Environmental and Sustainability Communication at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg has implemented partnership projects with universities in Ecuador and Peru sponsored by the DAAD. The scientific evaluation of the project “Teaching and Learning Sustainability” with the Universidad Técnica del Norte (UTN), Ecuador, shows that the project contributes to the integration of the concept of sustainable development in teaching, research and administration at the UTN and that it opens opportunities for global learning for all participants. However, also challenges of North-South cooperation in higher education become apparent. (DIPF/Orig.

Emancipatory and transformative global citizenship education in formal and informal settings. Empowering learners to change structures

This paper examines the vignettes from the perspective of Global Citizenship Education (GCE), with a particular focus on emancipatory and transformative learning in formal and informal settings. Taking reflection on the learning experiences and processes described in the vignettes as a basis, it develops and discusses five theses. This discussion helps to clarify what GCE is, where it is successful, where it fails, and how it should develop. While this paper acknowledges the relevance of incidental learning for GCE - and thus the bottom-up, emic approach that is the focus of this special issue, analysis of the experiences presented in the vignettes shows that incidental learning is not a simple matter where GCE is concerned. It can also lead to outcomes that are not in the spirit of GCE, and may even run counter to it. Learning environments should be structured in such a way as to facilitate the development of global citizenship competencies, create a sense of belonging and solidarity, and enable students to reflect critically on power structures and contribute to the transformation of those structures. Teachers can contribute to this by deploying emancipatory, transformative pedagogies in the classroom but also by creating opportunities for incidental learning in line with GCE or by addressing the outcomes of incidental learning in the classroom and making it amenable to reflection. Teachers need appropriate (GCE) competencies to enable them both to deploy emancipatory, transformative pedagogies and to support incidental learning. (DIPF/Orig.

Biodiversity and global learning

"The United Nations declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. This emphasis on the significance of biodiversity for human existence and well-being reveals just how important expanding biodiversity conservation really is. Against this background the question arises as to how much global learning can contribute to maintaining biodiversity." (author's abstract

Assessment of Sustainability Governance in Higher Education Institutions - a Systemic Tool using a Governance Equalizer

The paper aims to add to the discussion on sustainability governance in higher education institutions by examining the role of sustainability assessment and introducing an assessment tool inspired by systemic thinking and centered on a ‘governance equalizer’. It discusses recent research and argues that the complexity inherent in sustainability governance remains to be addressed adequately. While a number of models and frameworks have been proposed, most of them remain caught between narrow, management-oriented approaches on the one hand, and rather abstract approaches that provide little guidance for improving the field on the other. Sustainability assessment tools represent a potential way to bridge this gap. While there are existing tools which include issues of sustainability governance, these are often limited to aspects that are easily quantifiable and neglect more complex aspects. Against this background, the article proposes an alternative tool to assess sustainability governance in higher education institutions. The tool is based on a multi-case study in Germany and has been tested in a series of workshops. Drawing on the concept of a ‘governance equalizer’, it focuses on the functional requirements of sustainability governance in five dimensions - politics, profession, organization, knowledge, and the public—and how they are addressed by the HEI. The tool raises the level of abstraction in order to capture complexity, but at the same time keeps sight of governance structures, processes, instruments, and practices. It combines clearly defined criteria that are assessed using carefully developed maturity scales with a focus on stakeholder participation and knowledge

(Un)expected Learning Outcomes of Virtual School Garden Exchanges in the Field of Education for Sustainable Development

Global solidarity is paramount in times of global crises and essential in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Virtual School Garden Exchanges (VSGEs) link local gardening with global thinking. In VSGEs, elementary and secondary school students in different parts of the world exchange information about their school gardens and related topics via digital media. Educators’ perspectives and the learning outcomes they observed in the participants of the VSGEs were the focus of this study, as there has been controversy about whether VSGEs are suitable for implementing ESD and whether VSGEs result in the learning outcomes that the educators expect them to. We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with VSGE educators and analyzed them in an abductive and qualitative manner. The results showed substantial overlap with both the expected learning outcomes and the aims of ESD. Nevertheless, the data revealed different ways in which learners who engaged with their international peers were influenced by stereotypes and norms. On the one hand, VSGEs can lead to Othering, which is not congruent with either ESD or the expected learning outcomes. On the other hand, it can inspire Transformative Learning processes, which contribute to the aims of ESD. Therefore, depending on a complex interplay of various factors, there is potential for ESD in VSGEs, but VSGEs are not guaranteed to be a good ESD practice.Peer Reviewe

Die "Sustainable University" als informeller Lernkontext

Die Bemühungen der Universität Lüneburg um die Entwicklung einer am Leitbild der Nachhaltigkeit orientierten Lehr-, Lern- und Lebenskultur an der Hochschule sind bereits im Themenheft "Globales Lernen in Forschung und Lehre" vorgestellt worden. In diesem Beitrag wird das dort angesiedelte Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekt "Sustainable University - Nachhaltige Entwicklung im Kontext universitärer Aufgabenstellungen" unter der Perspektive informellen Lernens in den Blick genommen. (DIPF/Orig.)The efforts of the University of Lüneburg concerning the development of a culture of learning, teaching and living at the university geared to the approach of Sustainability have already been described in the ZEP-issue "Globales Lernen in Forschung und Lehre". This article now focusses on the perspective of informal learning within the research- and development-project "Sustainable Development in the context of university tasks" at the University of Lüneburg. (DIPF/Orig.

Education in a Culture of Sustainability and Digitality: A Comparative Reflection on Fundamental Discourses and Concepts

Der Beitrag widmet sich dem Ziel, die bildungsbezogenen Diskurse über eine Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit und eine Kultur der Digitalität zusammenzuführen. Insbesondere in bildungspolitischen Leitbildern für Schulen wird die Relevanz der jeweiligen Konzepte der Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung und der (digitalen) Medienbildung betont. Trotz ihrer jeweiligen Bedeutung als Querschnittsthemen scheinen die Konzepte in bildungswissenschaftlichen und -praktischen Diskursen jedoch noch eher unverbunden nebeneinander zu stehen und in der konkreten schulischen Praxis partiell konkurrierend wahrgenommen zu werden. Zur Annäherung der unterschiedlichen Perspektiven werden im ersten Schritt unsere begrifflich-konzeptionellen Ausgangspunkte zur Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung sowie zur (digitalen) Medienbildung expliziert. Auf Basis von drei Thesen wird daran anknüpfend ein Vorschlag formuliert, um die konzeptionellen Gemeinsamkeiten der vorgestellten Perspektiven als Anforderung an eine Bildung in einer Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit und der Digitalität zusammendenken und gestalten zu können. Für die Gestaltung schulischer Praxis werden aktuelle Perspektiven, Ansätze und Herausforderungen entlang der Schulentwicklungsdimensionen Unterrichts-, Personal-, Organisations-, Kooperations- und Technologieentwicklung vorgestellt und diskutiert.The article is dedicated to the goal of relating and bringing together the education-related discourses on a culture of sustainability and a culture of digitality. The relevance of the respective concepts of education for sustainable development and (digital) media education is emphasised in particular in educational policy guidelines for schools. Despite their respective importance as cross-cutting issues, the concepts still appear to be rather disconnected from each other in educational science and practice discourses and are perceived as partially competing in concrete school practice. To bring the different perspectives closer together, the first step is to explain our conceptual starting points for education for sustainable development and (digital) media education. Based on three theses, a proposal is then formulated to point out the conceptual common ground of the perspectives presented as a requirement for education in a culture of sustainability and digitality. For school development, current perspectives, approaches, and challenges along dimensions of teaching, personnel, organisational, cooperation and technology development are presented and discussed

Interdependencies of Culture and Functions of Sustainability Governance at Higher Education Institutions

Sustainable development practices in higher education institutions are diverse, with regard not only to the types of challenges that have to be addressed, but also to the forms of sustainability governance adopted by individual higher education institutions. This paper aims to reflect on the aspects of organizational culture that are particularly crucial for the implementation of sustainable practices at higher education institutions. Specifically, it addresses the research question: how do different organizational cultures affect approaches to sustainability governance at higher education institutions (HEIs)? It reflects on data from multi-case studies at eleven German higher education institutions. Four of the cases are analyzed in this paper to draw out the insights they offer on how organizational culture shapes the institutions’ approach to sustainable development. A governance equalizer is used as a functional framework for evaluating and discussing the influence of different cultural orientations on sustainability governance. In addition to providing many insights and findings in relation to specific cases, comparison of the different institutions, their governance structures and their cultures of sustainable development helps to emphasize that there is no single cultural factor that can be identified as directly promoting particular governance structures. Rather, there is an active interplay between cultural orientations, which influence, and are also influenced by, the measures deployed. Such influence is not instantly apparent but needs time to develop, and it evolves in a variety of ways as illustrated by the case studies