workplan

International network

Co-operation possibilities
 
Another focus of the UNESCO Chair will be the establishment of an international network that brings together other UNESCO Chairs in Northern and Southern countries as well as other interested institutes / chairs / professorships that deal with questions of sustainability in the context of education and learning. This network shall deal with higher education for sustainable development on the level of research and development.

This network is to be understood as a network referring to thematic contents, not referring to academia or science policy.  It will be characterised by concrete co-operation projects in study and education, by the operation of an internet platform, by conjoint publications and regular meetings. We want to invite all chairs, institutes and professorships that deal with questions of higher education for sustainable development to co-operate in this network. Furthermore, we encourage those people to co-operate who work on special aspects such as e.g. “fit” of contents and methods, new work forms (such as “blended learning” / e-learning), gender, implementation and dissemination, who deal with inter-culturality or with the relationship of globality and locality. Another important prerequisite is the willingness to co-operate actively in the network. 

Start project: a survey about “innovative approaches”

As a conjoint start project of the network, the survey “innovative approaches in study and teachings towards sustainability in different countries” was proposed. This project aims to illustrate the “state-of-the-art” of education or learning projects, but without the claim of being exhaustive. Possible questions are e.g. about the understanding of sustainability, or about new learning methods, forms of work, key competencies, inter- and transdisciplinarity, inter-culturality, implementation of sustainability or barriers at the individual universities.

The list of questions are to be developed and analysed in co-operation with interested chairs and institutes. The results shall form the basis for further co-operation projects in research and development. Chosen “best-practice” examples can be presented and communicated via this internet platform.

Communication via an internet platform

In order to operate the network across national borders, we want to develop an internet platform that enables an active co-operation of all participating institutions. That includes not only a “best-practice” exchange or a bulletin-board with the newest information, but also facilities that enable co-operation over great distances.  For this purpose, an open and decentralised working and learning platform is developed that supports collaborative work independent from time and space, and which may be used interactively as a common knowledge resource.

Publication of common work results

Since publication plays a central role in the scientific world, we want to open up new possibilities of publication in the frame of this network. These shall then be used to publish the results of co-operative research and development projects. Whether these publications are realised in printed form in an English-speaking series, or in the form of a new E-journal, has still to be clarified in a common discussion process among the network participants.

Continuous meetings

Since a network in the outlined form cannot be operated solely on the virtual level, regular and continuous meetings should be scheduled for the scientific exchange. They should take place every one or two years within the course of a scientific congress. Such meetings provide the possibilities for an exchange of the newest scientific findings, for the discussion of results of co-operative projects and also for the arrangement of new joint projects.

Financing of the network

In order to finance the project work, all participants should try to provide funds of their own or third party funds. Special arrangements are to be made to ensure that those chairs/ institutions/professorships with only limited access to financial means are not automatically excluded from participation. Together with the UNCESCO and with the national UNESCO-committees respectively, the possibilities to ensure their co-operation have to be considered.