Learning for Sustainable Development in Higher Education and Beyond: Finding and Shaping Transformative Spaces

What role can higher education institutions (HE ls) play in tackling the urgent sustainability challenges we currently face locally and globally? Education is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda, key to the success of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and seen as a crucial lever for transformation. From the perspective of the 2030 Agenda, it is essential to ensure that universities provide conditions for teaching and learning that make education for sustainable development (ESD) possible. HEls are increasingly committing to sustainable development (SD) as part of their overall mission. However, they often approach SD sectorally and fail to establish a mutual dialogue with important policy actors. Using a mixed-methods approach focused on in-depth qualitative interview data and the quantitative results of a tracer study, this dissertation investigates how HEls can redefine their education mission and learn from the experiences of students and HEI staff in order to contribute to societal transformation towards SD. Approaching the topic from a theory-of-change perspective, the research includes an impact chain of SD integration in HEls, which provides the conceptual framework for the dissertation. First, the dissertation begins by presenting the results of an analysis of the University of Bern's strategy to mainstream SD. Here, it highlights the importance of rethinking institutional structures in order to motivate lecturers to engage with SD and to provide them with opportunities to find links between their discipline and SD. Second, it analyses a tracer study of international PhD alumni, many of whom went on to work in academia following graduation. In analysing the students' experiences, the study sheds light on the inequalities of tertiary education and unequal career trajectories more broadly, which tend to marginalize the global South while strengthening Northern (Western) universities. It calls for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary educational programmes that facilitate safe and innovative learning spaces in which students from all parts of the world are brought together, exchange and capacity development are supported, and opportunities for trainers and network building are provided. The study proposes to enhance academic metrics that emphasize experience, research quality, and societal contributions over journal impact factors. Third, the dissertation explores the experience of Swiss students who build bridges between science and society in the context of student-led projects. Here, the research examines settings and spaces where formal and non-formal learning meet, listening to the voices of students who act as "boundary agents" between science and society, learning from their personal experiences, and relating the results to current debates on ESD, transformative learning, and the SD strategies of HEls. The research contained in this dissertation calls on HEls to expand and reflect on their understanding of education and learning in order to overcome detrimental gaps between science and society. The corresponding studies encourage HEls to increase their awareness and reflect on their own olicies and structures, respond to students' wishes regarding SD, acknowledge the opportunities opened up by students' learning paths, and rethink research settings and career pathways by confronting global power issues. To this end, HEls should provide safe spaces for learning and conceive of their education mission in a (more) holistic way- in line with a "whole institution approach" - enabling all actors involved to view themselves as learners who must consider changing their mindset and engaging with the challenges of societal transformation

The Effect of Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) on Political Preferences - Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Can online Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) that match voters to candidates and parties based on issue congruence influence voters’ political preferences? To address this question, we conducted a field experiment with University students during the 2011 Swiss federal elections and examine whether voters who used the Swiss VAA smartvote prior to the elections were more likely to adapt their initial party preferences. smartvote is an online web tool that enables voters to match their issue preferences to those of parties and candidates running for office, providing voters with custom made voting recommendations. Moreover, the tool allows voters to visualize their political position in the political landscape and compare their position to the political offer. The VAA gives unprecedented access to detailed political information and lets voters systematically compare electoral alternatives. Given these unique opportunities offered by the VAA, we analyze whether the revelation of “objective” preferences by the voting recommendation initiates changes in “subjective” preferences of voters. Decades of research on political behavior indicate that voters’ knowledge of and interest in politics is fairly limited and that political preferences are therefore highly amenable to (additional) information. Hence, we expect that voters who have their policy matches revealed by smartvote to be more likely to reconsider previously held convictions and consequently show changes in their political preference structure. We argue that VAAs can reinforce and rearrange pre-existing preferences. Employing the common political preference measure of an individual’s propensity to vote (ptv) for specific parties, we ascertain whether the smartvote voting recommendation caused voters to adapt their ptv scores for the running parties in the election. To empirically test these assumptions, we conducted a randomized field experiment during the 2011 Swiss federal elections among 2’000 University students in Switzerland. The treatment group received * Contact: [email protected] an email invitation to use smartvote before elections, providing survey participants with a personalized login for the website. The control group did not receive such an invitation. We measured the baseline characteristics and political preferences of both groups before and after the elections by means of an online survey. Given the randomized treatment assignment and the panel structure of the experiment, the data allows us to estimate the causal effect of smartvote use on political preferences. Due to non-compliance in the sample, we identify local average treatment effects for compliers. We find significant changes in the awarded scores for the top party preference among smartvote users. The assigned ptv score for the top party preferences increases significantly among those voters who used smartvote. Among those who changed their top party ptv score, most remained with the same party choice. Thus, in case of the most preferred party, smartvote use seems to reinforce pre-existing preferences. We do not only find a strengthening of the top party preference but also a multiplication thereof. Voters who consulted the tool report higher likelihoods for considering alternative choice options at elections. smartvote users, compared to non-users, are significantly more likely to change their initial preferences from a single most favored party to multiple highly preferred parties. In other words, being exposed to detailed information about vote alternatives seems to incline voters to consider these alternative options more closely and include the closest ones as part of their future choice set. These systematic shifts among smartvote users present empirical evidence for a causal effect of VAA use on political preferences

EU National Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions: A study prepared in the framework of the European Union Democracy Observatory for the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

The present publication is an integral part of a larger comparative study on EU Member States consultations with civil society on European policy matters. Following a call for tenders launched by the EESC, the EUDO Observatory on Public Opinion, Political Elites and the Media was commissioned to carry out the study under the direction of Didier Chabanet and Professor Alexander H. Trechsel. The publication is identical with the text published by the EESC: http://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/eesc-2010-21-en.pdfInspired by a European spirit, the EU’s national economic and social councils and the EESC worked together tirelessly to create a European network of economic and social councils. Thanks to the commitment of the presidents and members of all the councils, the network has helped forge systematic and structured cooperation on topics of practical relevance in EU policy. Today, the EU’s network of economic and social councils and similar institutions is a recognised institutional set-up which is consulted and listened to by the main EU institutions.This study was funded by the European Economic and Social Committe

EU Member States’ Consultation with Civil Society on European Policy Matters

A study prepared in the framework of the European Union Democracy Observatory for the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). The present publication is an integral part of a larger comparative study on EU Member States consultations with civil society on European policy matters. Following a call for tenders launched by the EESC, the EUDO Observatory on Public Opinion, Political Elites and the Media was commissioned to carry out the study under the direction of Didier Chabanet and Professor Alexander H. Trechsel.The objective of this study is to describe the EU national governments’ consultation with civil society at national level, Member State by Member State. To achieve objective 1, each country expert has carried out internet investigations. Additional research has been realized (such as analysis of policy-making documents, legal texts, etc.), as well as phone inquiries with governments and CSOs in order to better understand their system of consultation with civil society. As a general rule, the country experts have interviewed two members (or representatives) of two different CSOs operating in two different sectors. These interviews do not constitute a representative sample but have nonetheless enabled us to add more information to that already available through official documents, and to read it from a different, often relatively critical, angle. On the basis of the information gathered by the country experts, the two project coordinators - Didier Chabanet and Alexander H. Trechsel - have carried out the most accurate possible synthesis. The description of each national government consultation with civil society is provided in four different sections, following the same pattern for each case examined. 1. Introduction 2. Formal Framework for Civil Society Consultation 3. European Issues Consultation 4. ConclusionThis study was funded by the European Economic and Social Committe

Internet Voting in Estonia

Several countries have conducted Internet voting trials in binding public elections over the past decade, including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These trials have been conducted at the local and regional levels of government, targeting specific populations of voters. However, Estonia—a former Soviet republic and now a full member of the European Union—has advanced the farthest in deploying Internet voting. Since 2000, Estonia has conducted two national elections in which all voters could use Internet voting. The first election, in October 2005, was for local offices and the second election, in March 2007, was a national parliamentary election. In this article, we discuss the context for the Estonian experience in deploying Internet voting. We focus on how the Estonians have systematically addressed the legal and technical considerations required to make Internet voting a functioning voting platform, as well as the political and cultural framework that promoted this innovation. Using data from our own qualitative and quantitative studies of the Estonian experience, we consider who voted over the Internet in these elections, and the political implications of the voting platform. Finally, we consider the lessons that other countries can learn from the Estonian experience

Potential and challenges of e-voting in the European Union

European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO)This study was commissioned and supervised by the European Parliament’s Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the AFCO Committee. It addresses the potentials and challenges of the implementation of Internet voting in European Parliament elections. It considers the social, political, legal, and technological implications of its introduction as an alternative to on-paper ballot and builds on the recent experience of previous trials and successful e-enabled elections to issue technical recommendations regarding Internet voting in the European Union

Opportunities and Challenges in the Collection and Use of Socio-Spatial Data in National Forest Planning

Understanding human-environment connections to places is an important component of land-use management. Tools for collecting geographically referenced public values-based data (defined as socio-spatial data) for use in natural resource planning have been reported in academic journals for decades. The utility of socio-spatial data is in making public values tangible and potentially actionable in land-use analyses and decision processes. However, there is a lack of comprehensive documentation on the ways in which socio-spatial data is perceived, collected, interpreted and applied at a practical level. A better understanding of these factors allows planners to mitigate barriers and leverage opportunities to more effectively collect and incorporate public values into planning. Using the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) as a case study, this research explores the barriers and opportunities in incorporating socio-spatial data into land-use decisions, focusing on the forest plan revision process. Applied thematic analysis is used to identify themes derived from interviews with USFS personnel at research stations, regional offices and a sample of national forests. Findings indicate forest planners collect and apply this type of data using a diverse suite of tools, at numerous points in the process, and this data impacts decisions in direct and indirect ways. Socio-spatial data were used to identify special places, mediate conflicting use preferences, assess and revise proposed boundary areas, and inform standard analyses, such as the recreation opportunity spectrum. Budget issues that directly impact staff capacity are the most pressing barriers, creating a scarcity of social scientists within the agency that reverberates through the system and hinders the ability to collect and use socio-spatial data. However, opportunities exist in leveraging existing participatory processes to expand collection of socio-spatial data beyond the forest plan revision process, such as using the USFS\u27s Talking Points Collaborative Mapping application. More expansive use of the tool will make visible the utility of socio-spatial data. Recommendations include additional research, such as using contingency theory to delve deeper into the impacts of decisions, particularly focusing on the impacts of trade-offs on the integration of public values into planning documents. Educators also play a key role in advocating for professional development courses that focus on public values in natural resource planning and highlight the utility of socio-spatial data in this context. This would not only infuse skills needed in the workforce, but also establish use of socio-spatial data in decision-making as a best practice in natural resource management

The representative deficit in different European Party Systems: an analysis of the elections to the European Parliament 2009-2014

This paper explores the extent to which different party systems in Europe effectively represent their citizens. We argue that many European countries suffer from a “representative deficit”, which occurs when a significant portion of citizens have to vote for a political party whose stated views are actually quite different from their own. We measure the extent of this deficit in different European countries using data from EU Profiler and euandi, two Voting Advice Applications which served millions of users during the EP elections in 2009 and 2014 respectively. We find wide variation in the extent to which political parties are accurately tuned in to the preferences of their voters, a variation which is not clearly linked to the number of political parties or the proportionality of the electoral system. We attempt to explain some of this variation, and explore the reasons why some party systems offer better representation than others