scholarly journals Achieving Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality in Higher Education Institutions: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Gaurangi Sen ◽  
Hing-Wah Chau ◽  
Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq ◽  
Nitin Muttil ◽  
Anne W. M. Ng
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Sustainable Future ◽  
Sustainability Initiatives ◽  
Combat Climate Change ◽  
The Way

Universities and higher education institutions play an important role in achieving a sustainable future through their teaching and by undertaking cutting edge research to combat climate change. There have been several efforts towards a sustainable future and achieving carbon neutrality at higher education institutions in Australia and around the world. This study has reviewed the sustainability strategies of numerous universities in Australia and has identified as study cases six universities that are committed to and leading the implementation of initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality. The initiatives implemented at the selected universities were classified into eight “sustainability categories”, namely, built environment, energy, food and gardens, GHG emissions, natural environment, resource and waste management, transport, and water. Among the selected leading universities in sustainability, Charles Sturt University and the University of Tasmania (UTAS) are the only universities in Australia certified as carbon neutral. An interesting aspect of this review is the way in which universities are implementing sustainability initiatives in line with their mission and strategies. Despite striving towards the same end goal of achieving carbon neutrality, different institutions offer individually unique approaches towards sustainability. For example, UTAS values the creation, expansion and dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of continual learning, which is clearly demonstrated through its initiatives and policies. The findings in this review are critical in identifying those institutions of higher education which are role models in their strong commitment to achieving carbon neutrality. Such role model universities can pave the way for similar climate action at other universities.

scholarly journals The reflective information literacy educator

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whitworth
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
The Way

The shift in perception, from librarians as providers of information to librarians as educators in the effective use of information, requires the profession to become aware of differing approaches to the development of teaching and of the professional consciousness of educators: also of the way certain forms of teaching and CPD are privileged over others within higher education institutions, and why. This paper reports on and synthesises a range of theoretical works in this area, to explain how becoming an effective information literacy educator requires not just an awareness of practice, but developing it, through a continous interaction between theory and practice. The librarian-as-educator must engage in professional development practices which, ultimately, require the continuous questioning of the very foundations of IL, and work actively towards raising awareness of these processes throughout their institutions.

scholarly journals Making Space in the Standards Agenda: Developing Inclusive Practices in Schools

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dyson ◽  
Frances Gallannaugh ◽  
Alan Millward
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Inclusive Practices ◽  
Policy Environment ◽  
Local Education ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Way

In spite of the focus on inclusive education in recent years, there is a relative dearth of studies which explore the complexities of the move towards greater inclusion. This article seeks to redress this situation by reporting some interim findings from a three-year study of schools' attempts to develop more inclusive practices, involving teams of researchers from three higher education institutions working in partnership with 25 schools, in three local education authorities. The development took place within a national policy environment which focused heavily on the issue of ‘standards' narrowly defined. This article reports the way that this context helped to form schools' responses to inclusion and the ambiguities in these responses. It argues, however, that the view of schools' actions as entirely determined by this external agenda is as erroneous as the image of them battling heroically against it in the name of inclusive values. Rather, to a greater or lesser extent, schools tried or were impelled to find spaces within the ‘standards agenda’ where different values and priorities could be realised. The article outlines some of the factors which made this process more or less likely to occur and offers an important new way of thinking about the development of inclusive education.

scholarly journals Effect of Role Models - A Critical Study on the Recent Research Contribution of Vice-chancellors of Selected Private Universities in India

2018 ◽  
pp. 118-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Aithal
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Productivity ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Private Universities ◽  
Private University ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Vice Chancellors ◽  
Administrative Responsibilities

Many Countries around the globe have adopted private University system as a part of their higher education offering strategy. India, being the second highest in the number of private universities in the World, has given exactly 50 % shares to privately governed Universities (Private & Deemed to be universities together) and remaining 50% are Govt. Funded universities (Central & State Govt. together). Presently in India, there are 264 private universities spread over 22 states. Along with providing latest industry-oriented higher education training and placement, private universities are also have the challenge to involve both students and faculties in innovative research in order to increase the research output. While discussing the challenges of increasing the research productivity in organizations, recently proposed Theory of Accountability (Theory A) suggests the strategy of showing ‘Role models’ in the organizations to the researchers so that the target of each and every researcher can be substantially increased with the slogan – ‘It is Possible’. In this paper, we have proposed the responsibility of Vice-chancellors as Role models for researchers to boost the research output of the universities by adding self-contribution of them in the form of research publications. In this regard, we have studied the contribution of Vicechancellors to present them as Role models to researchers in private universities due to their less administrative responsibilities compared to public university Vice-chancellors in India. The research contributions in the form of published papers in journals for the last 5 years is tabulated, analysed, and discussed to see the Role model characteristics and is compared with an optimistic estimate, realistic estimate, and pessimistic estimate of our theoretical prediction. Finally, the reasons for the negative result and some guidelines are suggested to increase the Vice-chancellors contribution to increase the research productivity along with the brand image of the universities.

scholarly journals Editorial

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Beatrice M Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Integrity ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Independent Learning ◽  
Formal Curriculum ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
A Priority ◽  
The Way

Welcome to Volume 3 of the Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. This web-based journal is an open access publication of peer-reviewed publications disseminating research and best practice in higher education teaching and learning for graduate employability. In response to contemporary global trends, higher education institutions are exploring innovative ways to transform teaching and learning. These trends include the rapid increase in the availability of interactive learning technologies and development of new frameworks for credentialing skills and achievements gained by learners outside formal educational institutions. Learners are increasingly embracing independent learning opportunities through free, online educational offerings. New approaches to teaching and learning will need to be developed to connect the learner across settings, technologies and activities. Innovative approaches and pedagogies will ensure that higher education institutions achieve their aim to transform students by providing them with the skills and abilities to actively contribute to our rapidly changing world. Graduate employability will continually be a priority for universities and higher education providers, employers, professions, students and graduates. New solutions will enhance and change the way students learn and undoubtedly, the way graduate capabilities are developed within and beyond the formal curriculum. Universities and higher education providers are focusing on assuring and evidencing their institutions' espoused capabilities in their graduates. The development of agreed minimum standards graduates need to achieve to be employable, and how these standards are measured, continues to be a priority and source of much debate in the sector. New challenges include the assurance of credentials and academic integrity in the rapidly changing technological environment that includes Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Key to these challenges are how we evidence and assure student achievement, and much of this is strongly related to how we assess students. There is general acceptance within the sector that the development and assessment of graduate capabilities is most effective when contextualised within the discipline. Numerous approaches to assessment have been proposed including: exit interviews, capstone assessments, an outcomes-based approach using portfolios, standardised tests such as the Collegiate Skills Assessment and performance based assessment tasks. Increasingly e-assessment technologies are being proposed to facilitate the submission, workflow and marking of assessments and for diagnosing plagiarism. Nevertheless the challenges related to academic integrity, whilst not new, are likely to be greater when learning occurs online and assessments are not invigilated. It is likely that the design of valid authentic assessments to enable successful learning and for assuring graduates capabilities lies with the pedagogy rather than the technology. On behalf of our editorial board, the journal's editor, Professor Beverley Oliver, and our administration officer Ms Linda Lilly, I encourage you to participate, through this journal, in scholarly communication, debate and scholarship in learning and teaching for effective graduate employability. Beatrice Tucker Deputy Editor

scholarly journals Entrepreneurship Education through Successful Entrepreneurial Models in Higher Education Institutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Boldureanu ◽  
Alina Măriuca Ionescu ◽  
Ana-Maria Bercu ◽  
Maria Viorica Bedrule-Grigoruță ◽  
Daniel Boldureanu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Student Perception ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intentions ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Entrepreneurial Role

In higher education institutions, entrepreneurship learning based on successful entrepreneurial role models may promote education for sustainable development. Several theoretical perspectives, such as the human capital theory, the entrepreneurial self-efficacy and self-determination theory, argue that entrepreneurship education is positively correlated with entrepreneurial intentions of students, as it provides adequate know-how and skills and motivates them to develop their entrepreneurial careers. In entrepreneurship education programmes, exposure to successful entrepreneurial models could be a significant factor for stimulating students’ confidence in their ability to start a business and for improving their attitudes towards entrepreneurship. This study aims (i) to identify characteristics viewed by students as being specific to a successful entrepreneur, (ii) to establish the influence of exposure to successful entrepreneurial role models (chosen by students) during entrepreneurship education classes on student entrepreneurial intentions, and (iii) to assess how such exposure influences the attitudes of students towards entrepreneurship. For this purpose, the authors ran a pilot experiment with 30 graduate students enrolled in a Business Creation course using a research methodology that combined qualitative techniques with quantitative measures. Content and statistical analyses were utilised to examine differences in student entrepreneurial intentions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship after being exposed to successful entrepreneurial models. Our study provides evidence that entrepreneurship education based on successful entrepreneurial role models may positively influence the entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of students and could lead to higher orientation of student perception towards social benefits of entrepreneurship (new jobs) compared to financial ones (high income). However, our findings stress that if educators want to improve the efficiency of education focused on developing entrepreneurial skills, graduate programmes should be designed differently for business and non-business students, since studying successful entrepreneurial stories impacts these two groups differently.

scholarly journals A Study Into The Effects Of eLearning On Higher Education

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-27
Author(s):  
Gurmak Singh ◽  
◽  
John O'Donoghue ◽  
Harvey Worton ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Global Impact ◽  
Course Materials ◽  
Business Market ◽  
The Way

The Internet is a technological development that has the potential to change not only the way society retains and accesses knowledge but also to transform and restructure traditional models of higher education, particularly the delivery and interaction in and with course materials and associated resources. Utilising the Internet to deliver eLearning initiatives has created expectations both in the business market and in higher education institutions. Indeed, eLearning has enabled universities to expand on their current geographical reach, to capitalise on new prospective students and to establish themselves as global educational providers. This paper examines the issues surrounding the implementation of eLearning into higher education, including the structure and delivery of higher education, the implications to both students and lecturers and the global impact on society.

scholarly journals Investigating Spatiotemporal Variability of Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows: A Probabilistic Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Framework for Higher Education Institutions

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Abdulaziz Alghamdi ◽  
Guangji Hu ◽  
Gyan Chhipi-Shrestha ◽  
Husnain Haider ◽  
Kasun Hewage ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variability ◽  
Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Synthetic Evaluation

Higher education institutions (HEIs) consume significant energy and water and contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. HEIs are under pressure internally and externally to improve their overall performance on reducing GHG emissions within their boundaries. It is necessary to identify critical areas of high GHG emissions within a campus to help find solutions to improve the overall sustainability performance of the campus. An integrated probabilistic-fuzzy framework is developed to help universities address the uncertainty associated with the reporting of water, energy, and carbon (WEC) flows within a campus. The probabilistic assessment using Monte Carlo Simulations effectively addressed the aleatory uncertainties, due to the randomness in the variations of the recorded WEC usages, while the fuzzy synthetic evaluation addressed the epistemic uncertainties, due to vagueness in the linguistic variables associated with WEC benchmarks. The developed framework is applied to operational, academic, and residential buildings at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus). Three scenarios are analyzed, allocating the partial preference to water, or energy, or carbon. Furthermore, nine temporal seasons are generated to assess the variability, due to occupancy and climate changes. Finally, the aggregation is completed for the assessed buildings. The study reveals that climatic and type of buildings significantly affect the overall performance of a university. This study will help the sustainability centers and divisions in HEIs assess the spatiotemporal variability of WEC flows and effectively address the uncertainties to cover a wide range of human judgment.

scholarly journals Assessing the Need for and Constraints to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Integration in the Teaching and Learning of Tourism at Higher Education Institutions in Kenya

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. N. Kinyanjui
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Tourism Education ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Way

The aim of the current paper is to provide an extensive review of the theoretical and empirical literature that justifies the need for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning of tourism in the Kenyan institutions of higher learning. Further, a review of existing constraints is also explained using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) which has proved to be a suitable theoretical model in helping to explain and predict user behaviour of information technology and subsequently proposes the way forward towards enhanced integration. This study examines literature review that reveals the different points of view in relation to the integration of ICT in teaching and learning in tourism higher education institutions in Kenya. Specifically this paper sought to establish the various ICT resources applicable in tourism education, determine the benefits of integrating ICT in tourism education and lastly establish the external factors and user based factors that influence or constrain acceptance of ICT in tourism education in higher institutions and recommend the way forward. The findings from the literature reviewed indicates that, the use of ICTs transforms the teaching and learning experience by changing the manner in which the tourism and hospitality skills and knowledge is acquired.  However, the need for more appropriate modes of delivery to make the tourism education programmes more convenient for the modern student is quite crucial. Findings further showed that students are willing to adapt and use ICTs for learning but there are numerous barriers that are either user or institutional based. It was established that institutions are slow to implement their use while lecturers are slow to adapt to their use. Other barriers to the integration of instructional technology into higher education that were identified included poor technology infrastructure, lack of proper institutional policies on ICT use and minimal low computer use competency. Further, many higher online educational institutions had failed due to the high cost of technology, poor decisions, competition, and the absence of a business strategy.  Consequently, many universities that provide e-learning face enormous difficulty in achieving successful strategies, including the delivery, effectiveness, and acceptance of the courses. To effectively utilise ICT in tourism teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (IHEIs) will require proper network infrastructures, increased computer to student ratios, good Internet connectivity speeds with high availability as well as technical support for the users. There is also a need for a change in the tourism curriculum to integrate the use of ICTs in teaching and learning while at the same time, enhance policies that recognise and award those who use of ICTs for teaching.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document