scholarly journals The University as Engine of Development?

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-204
Author(s):  
Tristan McCowan

The idea of the ‘developmental university’ was popularised on the African continent in the post- independence period, but has recently returned to view on account of the positioning of the university in the newly agreed United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The developmental model is characterised by service to society, application of knowledge, non-academic benefit and prioritising the most marginalised. Yet to what extent are these goals and characteristics coherent and viable given the nature of the university as institution? While the developmental model per seis limited to a few experiences, the implications of these questions are much broader, given the public service mission held by many if not most higher education institutions around the world. After outlining its historical emergence, this article presents a conceptual exploration of the model, highlighting three major limitations, in spite of its highly positive intentions: its positioning of the university as an ‘adaptable factory’, its encroachment on a distinctive space for the university in relation to society, and its particular and contested conception of development.

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-53
Author(s):  
John-Mary Kauzya

In this paper, the author provides a synopsis of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by world leaders in September 2015. He argues that in order for this agenda to be implemented and the goals to be achieved, countries will need to transform their public services and develop their capacity to deliver critical essential services equitable and effectively. The paper further argues that transforming the Public Service will need a transformational leadership even if transactional and even bureaucratic leadership are necessary as well. The paper also gives some aspects of what a transformed public service would look like in light of the 2030 Agenda, arguing that the characteristics of the transformed public service should be viewed in light of putting people at the centre of the Public Service operations and leaving no one behind in the provision and consumption of services.


Author(s):  
Donny SUSILO

Environment becomes major concern for all countries throughout the world since Sustainable Development Goals were promoted. However the target is impossible to achieve without awareness and participation of the public. Promoting environmental sustainability is difficult and costly, therefore a breakthrough is required. The concept of guerrilla marketing has been widely used and recognized as low cost, but effective marketing strategy, therefore it is also an appropriate innovative way of promoting environmental sustainability in public area. This study explores the successful application of guerrilla marketing for promoting environmental sustainability around the world. Three case studies were chosen to figure out how it works. The successful applications confirm that guerrilla campaign for sustainability needs element of humour, uniqueness, sensation, creativity, surprise and education. Both profit and non-profit organizations can achieve their goal in both effective and efficient way when they know how to apply guerrilla marketing properly


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
sheeba pakkan ◽  
Christopher Sudhakar ◽  
Shubham Tripathi ◽  
Mahabaleshwara Rao

Abstract As universities are the change agent of society, institutions from all nations set their goals to transform the world by exploring various societal challenges that humans are facing. Together, the higher education systems across the world developing strategies based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper assesses the influence of 16 SDGs on each other paving the way for the universities to set a clear goal in attaining Sustainable Development goals by 2030. To analyze the SDGs interactions towards each other, 201844 research publications from India during five years on 16 SDGs are retrieved from the Scopus database. Spearman Rank Correlation is applied to understand the contribution of each SDG towards one another. We could observe converging results out of the interactions among the SDGs. A significant positive and moderately positive correlation between pairs of SDGs are identified. While a significant number of negative correlation is also classified which need deep thinking among researchers to make it positively correlated. The most frequent interactions between SDGs is a positive sign to any university in strategising the goal towards SDGs. The association of all university stakeholders and some constitutional and cultural changes are necessary to put SDGs at the core of the management of the university. Embracing this task by researchers will improve the overall performance of universities.


Climate justice requires sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its resolution equitably and fairly. It brings together justice between generations and justice within generations. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals summit in September 2015, and the Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in December 2015, brought climate justice center stage in global discussions. In the run up to Paris, Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, instituted the Climate Justice Dialogue. The editors of this volume, an economist and a philosopher, served on the High Level Advisory Committee of the Climate Justice Dialogue. They noted the overlap and mutual enforcement between the economic and philosophical discourses on climate justice. But they also noted the great need for these strands to come together to support the public and policy discourse. This volume is the result.


Author(s):  
Chris G. Pope ◽  
Meng Ji ◽  
Xuemei Bai

The chapter argues that whether or not the world is successful in attaining sustainability, political systems are in a process of epoch-defining change as a result of the unsustainable demands of our social systems. This chapter theorizes a framework for analyzing the political “translation” of sustainability norms within national polities. Translation, in this sense, denotes the political reinterpretation of sustainable development as well as the national capacities and contexts which impact how sustainability agendas can be instrumentalized. This requires an examination into the political architecture of a national polity, the norms that inform a political process, socioecological contexts, the main communicative channels involved in the dissemination of political discourse and other key structures and agencies, and the kinds of approaches toward sustainability that inform the political process. This framework aims to draw attention to the ways in which global economic, political, and social systems are adapting and transforming as a result of unsustainability and to further understanding of the effectiveness of globally diffused sustainability norms in directing that change.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174276652110239
Author(s):  
Rasha Allam

The Egyptian public broadcaster, newly named the National Media Council (NMC), has been under pressure to undergo comprehensive restructuring. Many changes have taken place recently to enable this transformation. Through analysing financial reports, evaluating the new regulatory framework and conducting in-depth interviews, this study examines the likelihood of the NMC adapting to the recent changes and the extent to which the new regulatory framework promotes a public service system suggesting a model for implementation. Findings show that the NMC must respond to four main challenges: lack of strategic vision and identity, a centralized regime power structure, an acute financial deficit, and a weak digital presence. Interviewees evaluated the new regulatory framework as inexhaustive with an intention to maintain grip on power. Interviewees proposed an integrated decentralized model that combines the public service mission with private partnership.


2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062110055
Author(s):  
Clare Thorpe ◽  
Lyndelle Gunton

The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development identifies 17 goals as a shared blueprint for peace, prosperity, people and the planet. Australian academic libraries have started documenting and planning how academic libraries contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the identification of assessment frameworks and key performance indicators. In 2019, the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Library stepped through an exercise of understanding how our day-to-day work and annual planning targets mapped to the SDGs. The article is a case study. The authors outline how an academic library’s services, projects and action plans were mapped to the SDGs and how the mapping exercise was communicated to the community. The article will situate this activity among the broader approaches being taken by the Australian library community, including the 2030 stretch targets for Australian libraries. USQ Library staff found that existing services, collections and projects correlated to eight of the 17 SDGs. Activities were mapped to these eight goals and reported to senior executive of the University. The mapping exercise increased the awareness of library staff about the broader cultural and societal implications of their roles. The communication strategy led to conversations that increased university leaders’ awareness of the SDGs and the value and impact of USQ Library in improving access to information as well as the library’s role in transforming the lives of USQ students and community. By undertaking an exercise to map collections, services and projects to the SDGs, USQ Library has been able to demonstrate how their knowledge and information infrastructures which enable student achievement and research excellence. The SDGs can be used by university libraries as a benchmarking tool and as a challenge to set stretch targets aligned with the United Nation’s 2030 agenda.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1828
Author(s):  
Elisa Chaleta ◽  
Margarida Saraiva ◽  
Fátima Leal ◽  
Isabel Fialho ◽  
António Borralho

In this work we analyzed the mapping of Sustainable Development Goals in the curricular units of the undergraduate courses of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Évora. Of a total of 449 curricular units, only 374 had students enrolled in 2020/2021. The data presented refer to the 187 course units that had Sustainable Development Goals in addition to SDG4 (Quality Education) assigned to all the course units. Considering the set of curricular units, the results showed that the most mentioned objectives were those related to Gender Equality (SDG 5), Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8) and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16). Regarding the differences between the departments, which are also distinct scientific areas, we have observed that the Departments of Economics and Management had more objectives related to labor and economic growth, while the other departments mentioned more objectives related to inequalities, gender or other.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1268
Author(s):  
Angel Valentin Mercedes Garcia ◽  
Petra Amparo López-Jiménez ◽  
Francisco-Javier Sánchez-Romero ◽  
Modesto Pérez-Sánchez

The world is continuously searching for ways to improve how water is used for energy. As the population increases, so do the needs for natural resources and, in turn, the needs for energy. This research sought to show how the world has tried to achieve more sustainable forms of pressurized water distribution and to show the results that have been obtained. In this sense, technologies have been used for the production of clean energy, energy recovery instead of dissipation, reprogramming of pumping stations and hybrid systems. In many cases, much lower water and energy requirements are achieved and, in turn, greenhouse gas emissions related to water use are reduced. Sixty-one different water systems were analyzed considering different energy, economic and environmental indicators. The different operation range of these indicators were defined according to sustainable indicators.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-153
Author(s):  
Federica Violi

By browsing the website of Land Matrix, one can measure the extent of land-related large-scale investments in natural resources (LRINRs) and place it on the world map. At the time of writing, the extent of these investments covers an area equal to the surfaces of Spain and Portugal together – or, for football fans, around 60 million football pitches. These investment operations have often been saluted as instrumental to achieve the developmental needs of host countries and as the necessary private counterpart to state (and interstate) efforts aimed at (sustainable) development goals. Yet, the realities on the ground offer a scenario characterised by severe instances of displacement of indigenous or local communities and environmental disruptions. The starting point of this short essay is that these ‘externalities’ are generated through the legal construct enabling the implementation of these investment operations. As such, this contribution lies neatly in the line of research set forth in the excellent books of Kinnari Bhatt and Jennifer Lander, from the perspective of both the development culture shaping these investment operations and the private–public environment in which these are situated. The essay tries and dialogues with both components, while focusing at a metalevel on the theoretical shifts potentially geared to turn a ‘tale of exclusion’ into a ‘tale of inclusion’.


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