Marco Rieckmann

Developing Key Competencies for Sustainable Development in Higher Education

Purpose – To date, little attention has been given to the circumstances in which developing key competencies for sustainable development may take place. Within higher education, the possibilities both of formal and informal learning and their relationship to competence development should be considered.Design/methodology/approach – Based on focus groups an explorative, qualitative study was designed, using different groups from formal and informal learning settings.Findings – The development of key competencies is based both on cognitive and non-cognitive dispositions and asks for multiple contexts. Through combining formal and informal learning settings within higher education – as part of a new learning culture – a variety of contexts can be given and competence development can be enhanced.Research limitations – While aspects of both formal and informal learning settings could be identified, the interdependencies between them remain elusive.Practical implications (if applicable) – Based on the findings, some main aspects can be pointed out that may be crucial for competence development in higher education settings.Originality/value – The paper analyses the implications of new ways for both formal and informal learning settings for developing key competencies within higher education. Particular attention is given to interdisciplinarity and students’ self-responsibility.

Towards a ?Sustainable University?: scenarios for sustainable university development

Universities are key actors in sustainable development by generating new knowledge as well as contributing to the development of appropriate competencies and raising sustainability awareness. Within a project called ‘Sustainable University’ at the Leuphana University of LA¼neburg (Germany), a scenario analysis was carried out in order to think structurally about both the challenges that universities could face in the long run and to establish what chances and problems might arise in future from implementing an orientation towards sustainable development. This analysis results in the characterisation of a ‘Higher Education Landscape 2035’ consisting of eight clusters of possible future developments. This paper describes the process of inter- and trans-disciplinary scenario development, gives an overview of the scenarios identified, and finally discusses the adaptability of the LA¼neburg idea of a sustainable university to the future system of higher education.

Experiencing the Global Dimension of Sustainability: Student Dialogue in a European-Latin American Virtual Seminar

This article suggests as important elements of education for sustainable development an active engagement with global issues, and involvement in international communication and cooperation. As there is a dearth of learning settings that offer and stimulate an interactive dialogue between learners from the North and the South, this paper proposes as a possible model the International Virtual Seminar ‘Sustainable Development in Europe and Latin America’, which involved participants from Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Germany. Results show how students experienced the global dimension of sustainability; and that they improved their competencies crucial for international communication about and cooperation in sustainable development. The findings also indicate the main challenges faced by students during their learning process.

Towards more equal footing in north-south biodiversity research : European and sub-Saharan viewpoints

Research collaboration between developed countries from the northern hemisphere and developing countries in the southern hemisphere is essential for the understanding and protection of the major proportion of biodiversity located in the tropics. Focusing on the case of sub-Saharan Africa, we here assess the real involvement of northern versus southern contributors, and caution against unequal academic benefit sharing arising from non-commercial biodiversity research that may ultimately hamper sustainable knowledge transfer and long-term biodiversity conservation. We discuss possible drivers that may have led to a business of raw biodiversity data. While we fully support the current efforts to stamp out biopiracy through international biodiversity policies and agreements, we illustrate that such legislative frameworks may further constrain biodiversity research, especially in countries where regulations are poorly streamlined and bureaucracy remains rather inert. We therefore ask for workable solutions towards more equal footing in north–south biodiversity research, and propose a number of steps to transgress the current barriers towards a more fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from biodiversity research.

The Global Perspective of Education for Sustainable Development: A European-Latin American Study about Key Competencies for Thinking and Acting in the World Society

Education for sustainable development (ESD) aims at developing key competencies that enable individuals to help the world society progress on a more sustainable path. There is, as yet, no agreement in the international debate on what are the most important key competencies. Against this background, the thesis asks: Which individual key competencies are crucial for understanding central challenges facing the world society and for facilitating its development towards a more sustainable future?

Sustainable Development and Conservation of Biodiversity Hotspots in Latin America: The Case of Ecuador

The conservation of biodiversity is closely linked to sustainable development. This is particularly evident in the so-called developing countries. Latin America, for instance, hosts some of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world. However, this biodiversity is threatened by development processes which lead to environmental degradation and thus a significant loss of biodiversity. In Ecuador, new approaches towards sustainable development with a particular focus on biodiversity conservation and environmental protection have been developed in recent years. Against the background of data on biological diversity in Latin America and a description of conservation endeavours in the Latin-American region, this chapter analyses the Ecuadorian efforts to achieve sustainable development and long-term protection of biological diversity. Positive impacts as well as new challenges and conflicts, which result from these approaches, are identified and discussed.

Facilitating work performance of sustainability-driven entrepreneurs through higher education: The relevance of competencies, values, worldviews and opportunities

This article explores the work performance of sustainability-driven entrepreneurs in order to be able to provide better learning settings in higher education for sustainability-driven entrepreneurship (SDE). Sustainability-driven entrepreneurs are actors who initiate and successfully implement sustainable innovations in pursuit of social and ecological objectives in addition to economic ones as the basis of their organizational strategy. SDE suggests an action-oriented process view and emphasizes the nexus of individuals and opportunities. This article argues that competencies as well as deeper levels of knowledge regarding values and worldviews are key dimensions constituting SDE. For the implementation of sustainable action strategies, key competencies as well as opportunities are essential for enabling work performance. For this qualitative–explorative study, 48 semi-structured interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs and managers from enterprises and non-profit organizations pursuing sustainable strategies and activities in their economic ventures in five European regions: Vienna, Gothenburg, Brno, Bolzano and Vechta. The findings have a number of implications for study programmes in higher education institutions aiming at developing student competencies as well as deeper levels of knowledge regarding values and worldviews, and fostering performance for SDE.

The Contribution of Education for Sustainable Development in Promoting Sustainable Water Use

Education for sustainable development (ESD) aims at enabling people to make a contribution to sustainable development. Its central educational goal is the development of sustainability key competencies. Water is one of the bases of life on earth and so an important topic for ESD. ESD can help to increase the awareness of water issues and to promote the careful use of water resources. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the relevance of water as a topic for ESD and to show the approaches and methods that can be used in ESD to raise awareness of the importance of natural resources and develop competencies for the sustainable development of our global society. The International Decade “Water for Life” can be seen as a good context for these educational objectives.

Kommunikation, Partizipation und digitale Medien

Im Prozess der nachhaltigen Entwicklung spielen Kommunikation, Partizipation wie auch (digitale) Medien eine wichtige Rolle. Es werden theoretische Zusammenhange aufgezeigt und methodische Zugange wie auch Umsetzungsmoglichkeiten verdeutlicht. Auserdem enthalt das Kapitel exemplarische Hinweise auf Forschungen sowie Ausfuhrungen zu Projekten, die in der konkreten praktischen Arbeit erfolgreich waren.

Partizipation als zentrales Element von Bildung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung

Bildung ist eine zentrale Strategie, um eine nachhaltige Entwicklung zu erreichen. Denn die grundlegenden Umorientierungen und neuen Wege im Umgang mit den naturlichen Lebensgrundlagen und hinsichtlich des Zusammenlebens in der Weltgesellschaft, die mit einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung verbunden sind, erfordern eine tiefgreifende Veranderung des Denkens und Handelns der Menschen und damit die Entwicklung von Kompetenzen, die es den Individuen ermoglichen, zu einer nachhaltigeren Zukunft beizutragen. Nachhaltige Entwicklung selbst ist dabei nicht als Ziel, sondern als Aufgabe und individueller und gesellschaftlicher Lern- und Gestaltungsprozess zu verstehen.