Insights into Education System for Sustainable Development: The case of UCEM, UK

Renuka Thakore, Ph.D. and Aled Williams, BSc(Hons) MSc PGCHE FCIOB
University College of Estate Management
Reading, UK

‘Education for Sustainable Development’ (ESD) drives priority to aligning education programmes for convergence of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Education agendas. This paper argues that, to this end, the importance of strategic, tactical and operational level changes and sustaining the human and material resources used to transform any kind of learning environments, should be factored into all institutional-wide strategies. In other words, this should be an integral aspect of the implementation of sustainability elements in institutional-wide activities. However, ideally, to fully establish the foundation for Sustainability, the range of activities by which ESD can be delivered should not be restricted but should be extended to building a society that values peace, equality, human rights, gender, environment and cultural diversity. This would assist furthering SDGs; however, to be effective, this approach requires the incorporation of a process like NUS Responsible Future Certification. The scope of this paper will therefore outline what whole-institution collaborative approach is, and then why it is relevant, considering how it may be used to contribute to a more sustainable future of the built environment education system. Document analysis research methodology was used to inform a theoretical conceptual framework for education system for sustainable development.

Key Words:  Education, Institution-wide Collaborative Approach, Sustainable Development Goals

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