Higher Education for Sustainable Development: promoting intellectual independence

Many people in higher education accept that we have a responsibility to contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goals, not only through our research but also through our teaching. A major international focus is to teach young people about sustainability and the skills that we think they will need, individually and collectively, to live and work sustainably. My message, and this series of podcasts, suggest something different. I doubt that the higher education that I know is either able or willing to teach the next generation to be sustainable. Many of our students do not come to our universities to learn about sustainability and many of our teachers may not themselves be good role models for sustainability.

I do think that higher education can help to develop the intellectual independence of our students, so that their beliefs and actions can be the product of their own thinking, rather than something that previous generations impose upon them. A generation of intellectually-independent global citizens will be well positioned to make different decisions from those made by preceding generations.

Much in these podcasts is based on research that explored higher education for sustainable development in New Zealand, recorded in a book: Shephard, K. (2020). Higher education for sustainability: Seeking intellectual independence in Aotearoa New Zealand. Springer, 163p.

References mentioned in the podcasts and full acknowledgements are provided here ... https://www.otago.ac.nz/hedc/people/otago615492.html

Thanks to: Kyle Preston for the music (“Café de Philosophe” non-attribution licence) and to Tom Neunzerling for editing and general podcast support.