FROM POLICY TO PRACTICE: EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY AND ETHICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION FOR ACHIEVING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Keywords:
Sustainability in Higher Education, Ethics, Governance, Policy Implementation, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)Abstract
This paper investigated how universities can translate their solemn promises on ethics and sustainability into action and, in the process, make a contribution to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as defined by the United Nations Organization. To achieve it, the paper deep-dives into the research around the globe extracting notions of sustainability, higher education policy, and applied ethics. It is informed by the significant international guides, such as the Education for Sustainable Development Roadmap of United nations educational scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO) and the Higher Education Guide of the United Nations, not to mention the theoretical understanding of how individuals and organizations actually transform. The paper finds a new practical solution to assist universities in keeping their ethical and sustainability pledges by tearing down policies and models across the world. The divide that is present between universities and what happens on the campus is immense. These problems can be narrowed down to segregated governance systems, lack of adequate human resources that are knowledgeable on sustainability, and lack of follow-through. The paper does not merely assign blame, though it creates a path towards, which it says the actual change lies in shaking the manner in which universities are being run. It is being permissive in that it is allowing more people to make a contribution towards the decisions, it is putting ethics in every facet of the curriculum and the culture is being created where people are actually practicing these values. The paper further outlines a diagram of a structure that depicts how the ethics decision-making and sustainability can work together to help the universities in ensuring that they create a real impact on SDGs. The paper goes ahead to give some practical measures that the university leaders, policy makers and teachers should take. It challenges the new forms of government, leadership training and curriculum redesign based on sustainability and ethics at the top. It is not just theoretical because the framework can help the universities track their progress and streamline theirstrategies to the global sustainability goals. The article makes an input into the discourse of tertiary institutions and development which is sustainable. The article brings the policies of the universities and practice in line because the argument is that the ethics do not have to emerge as significant but they serve as the basis to real development of SDGs.Downloads
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