Knowledge for a Sustainable World

Description

The search for answers to the issue of global sustainability has become increasingly urgent. In the context of higher education, many universities and academics are seeking new insights that can shift our dependence on ways of living that rely on the exploitation of so many and the degradation of so much of our planet. This is the vision that drives SANORD and many of the researchers and institutions within its network. Although much of the research is on a relatively small scale, the vision is steadily gaining momentum, forging dynamic collaborations and pathways to new knowledge. The contributors to this book cover a variety of subject areas and offer fresh insights about chronically under-researched parts of the world. Others document and critically reflect on innovative approaches to cross-continental teaching and research collaborations. This book will be of interest to anyone involved in the transformation of higher education or the practicalities of cross-continental and cross-disciplinary academic collaboration. The Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD) is a network of higher education institutions from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Universities in the southern African and Nordic regions that are not yet members are encouraged to join.

Sujets

• EDUCATION
• Higher

Informations

• Publié par: African Minds
• Date de parution: 07 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 69
• EAN13: 9781928331063
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Knowledge for a sustainable world
A southern African–Nordic contribution

Published in 2015 by
African Minds
4 Eccleston Place, Somerset West, 7130, Cape Town, South Africa
[e-mail]
www.africanminds.org.za
and
The Southern African-Nordic Centre
University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535
Tel: [phone]
http://sanord.net
2015
All contents of this document, unless specified otherwise, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. When quoting from any of the chapters, readers are requested to acknowledge the relevant author.
ISBNs
978-1-928331-04-9 Print
978-1-928331-05-6 e-Book
978-1-928331-06-3 e-Pub
Copies of this book are available for free download at
www.africanminds.org.za and http://sanord.net
ORDERS
For orders from Africa, please contact:
African Minds
Email: [e-mail]
For orders from outside Africa, please contact:
African Books Collective
PO Box 721, Oxford OX1 9EN, UK
Email: [e-mail]
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Acronyms and abbreviations
Introduction: The Southern African Nordic Centre and the Sustainable Development Goals: Opportunities for critical interventions
Tor Halvorsen
Part I: CHALLENGES
1 Disability in southern Africa: Insights into its magnitude and nature
Vyvienne RP M’kumbuzi, Hellen Myezwa, Tonderai Shumba and Alice Namanja
2 Facilitating access to higher education for students with disabilities Strategies and support services at the University of Botswana
Pedzani Perci Monyatsi and OS Phibion
3 Access and equity for students with disabilities at the University of Malawi: The case of Chancellor College
Elizabeth Tikondwe Kamchedzera
4 Pr omoting research in resource-challenged environments: The case of Malawi’s Mzuzu University
Victor Mgomezulu
5 ‘The path of the mother is trodden by the daughter’: Stepping stones for entry into the middle class in South Africa
Dan Darkey and Hilde Ibsen
6 Using solar energy to enhance access to ICTs in Malawi
Luke Mwale
7 Software engineering in low- to middle-income countries
Miroslaw Staron
8 Climate-change awareness and online media in Zimbabwe: Opportunities lost?
Henri-Count Evans
Part II: COLLABORATIONS
9 Culture meets culture at a distance
Berith Nyqvist Cech and Lars Bergström
10 The Consortium of New Southern African Medical Schools: A new South–South–North network
Quentin Eichbaum, Marius Hedimbi, Kasonde Bowa, Celso Belo, Keikantse Matlhagela, Ludo Badlangana, Peter Nyarango and Olli Vainio
11 International collaboration for pedagogical innovation: Understanding multiracial interaction through a time-geographic appraisal
P Assmo and R Fox
12 Rethinking access to higher education in Malawi: Lessons from the Malawi Institute of Management’s collaborations with universities in the United Kingdom
Rebecca Ward and Ida Mbendera
About the contributors
Preface
A T END OF S EPTEMBER 2015 , after a long process of consultation and debate, the United Nations general assembly replaced the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the High-Level Panel appointed by UN to initiate debate about a new set of goals, the MDGs had neither focused sufficiently on the most marginalised people, nor addressed important aspects of development with regard to democracy and inclusive growth. But most importantly, the MDGs had fallen short in relation to sustainable development, the most fundamental challenge facing us all.
The High-Level Panel proposed that the world’s post-2015 agenda be driven by the following five key transformative shifts:
1 Leave no one behind. This is crucial for ending extreme poverty and ensuring that no one is denied universal human rights, including the right of every individual to education.
2 Put sustainable development at the core. This points to the importance of social inclusion and of meeting the aspirations of all people by 2030.
3 Transform economies for jobs and inclusive growth. Part of this shift also includes access to quality education and skills.
4 Build peace and effective open and accountable institutions for all. This implies that all of humanity should live in freedom from fear and enjoy fundamental human rights.
5 Forge a new global partnership. This is directed towards good governance and civic participation.
By suggesting these shifts, the High-Level Panel hoped to refocus the world’s attention on ending the rampant inequality of opportunities while inspiring the next generation to believe, and act on the belief, that a better world is within reach. From 2013 to 2015, these proposed shifts were intensely debated by many different kinds of actors, including academics, and eventually agreement was reached on 17 SDGs.
The new SDGs not only added more goals, but also fresh global perspectives. The new goals concern the entire world, rather than focusing only on the so-called ‘developing world’ as the MDGs did. How to act sustainably, what technologies and systems can and must be developed to ensure sustainability, and how rich and poor alike must co-operate to make this happen is our common challenge. The role of higher education in this effort is acknowledged as being of vital importance.
At the Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD) conference in Malawi in December 2013, the theme of which was ‘Contributions of universities towards attaining the millennium development goals’, grave concerns were raised that the universities would not be sufficiently involved in the discussions about the new SDGs, and that universities would not be seen as important sites for developing goals and solutions to the challenges facing the world. It seemed that the High-Level Panel were calling on ‘experts’, but bypassing the institutions that consistently inform and renew the knowledge of those experts through research, and research-based education. Discussions about the role of network in relation to the emerging SDGs continued at the subsequent SANORD conference held in Sweden in June 2014, the theme of which was ‘A sustainable future through information technology and welfare development’. An awareness that SANORD, as a university network, had particular duties and opportunities grew among participants at both conferences, and the importance of communicating the content of their discussions more widely was recognised.
What is contained in this book are some of the best papers from the two conferences. The chapters emphasise important areas for present and future collaboration within the network, and by doing this, also point to areas in which SANORD members are engaging with the SDGs. The chapters highlight topics that we think need attention as we join efforts to implement the mandate given to us by the UN General Assembly, namely: how to improve the world’s knowledge base and knowledge-based engagements to achieve the 17 new goals.
SANORD has a particular regional profile, and thus attempts to share knowledge about the value of specific regional experiences – how the Northern welfare states work, for example, or the interregional tolerance and solidarity between citizens of the South. These variations help us to learn from one another, and by bringing such different cultures together, SANORD stands out as an organisation with much to contribute to global debates about the SDGs. In particular, our North–South/South–North linkages put SANORD in a position to make sure that the SDGs, and the global challenges associated with them, are placed squarely on the agendas of higher education institutions in our regions. Our regional network, perhaps more than any other, represents the global interconnectedness that is seen as a precondition for the successful implementation of the SDGs.
The burden of challenge is no longer focused on the low-income countries; and solutions will be found only if we all share the load, carrying costs according to our relative wealth. To make the world aware of this, and galvanise responses capable of bringing about this change is the challenge facing our university network and, similarly, other organised initiatives.
Because SANORD is owned by the universities, and run by university leaders, it is also a network that can rapidly activate its members to address what is urgently required, namely: research and knowledge dissemination that improves our chances of achieving the SDGs. The SDGs invite this kind of engagement, not only because they challenge us academically, but also because they open up a new role for university-based knowledge. The SDGs, as organised within the UN, are to be driven by constant interaction between science and politics (the so-called SPI forums.)
This book is but a small contribution to an ongoing process within SANORD, but hopefully one that inspires great creativity in relation to the SDGs. That SANORD’s 2015 conference in Windhoek is dedicated to debating the 17 SDGs, is another indication of our willingness to prioritise this matter.
Acknowledgements
P EER REVIEWING A BOOK with authors from so many different disciplines is not easy. Therefore strong praise is due to the anonymous reviewer who accepted this difficult task, and whose comments contributed immeasurably to improving the rigour and focus o