The Future of Sustainable Education in Higher Education

Abstract

As the world grapples with mounting environmental, social and economic challenges, a re-envisioned higher education, built around the concepts of sustainability, is increasingly seen as an imperative. This chapter discusses the development of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), its guiding tenets, and the centrality of ESD in curriculum and pedagogy. The chapter argues that transformative learning, cross-disciplinarity, and indigenisation are important tenets to the development of a more holistic sustainability literacy. The chapter also highlights the need for a commitment to the values of ethical leadership and global citizenship as part of the strategic imperatives for equipping students to engage in and address complex social issues. It offers a vision for what universities of the future might look like as those in the academy move higher education beyond knowledge transmission to making sustainability actors seek to anticipate the trajectory of an ESD with transformative potential; an education that nurtures sustainable communities.