The Second International Conference of the UNESCO Chair for Education, Training and Research into Sustainable Development took place at the Bordeaux Institut National Polytechnique last month. The conference: What strategy 2016-2019 for education, training and research into sustainable development brought representatives together from 35 universities in 21 Member countries from UNESCO’s UNITWIN network. At its opening, Soo Hyang Choi, Director of the Division for Inclusion, Peace and Sustainable Development said:
“To orient universities towards sustainable development means to include major local and global issues in the academic and research programmes, develop methods of teaching and learning in an interactive way to encourage critical thinking, analytical thinking, creativity, openness , self-confidence and self-esteem and create a comprehensive and environmentally responsible campus as a learning environment; to involve universities in activities related to respect for human rights, diversity and sustainable development in the local community; and thus promote the formation of citizens with a global conscience.”
The conference aimed to develop a new four-year strategy for the Global Action Programme [GAP] on ESD taking into account five priority actions:
- Strengthening ESD policy;
- Developing global institutional approaches;
- Building capacity of educators and trainers
- Mobilising young people;
- Encouraging collective activities
Vacuous and quite hopeless, of course. When will UNESCO (well, that tiny bit of UNESCO that obsesses about ESD) learn that it cannot tell universities what their research priorities have to be.
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