Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

The project integrates a wide range of activities to developresources, revise and develop new curriculum initiatives, buildcapacity and strengthen national and regional networks. Morespecifically, the project-specific objectives are to:• Support the development of ESD in the higher education sectorin Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon• Build capacity amongst university staff to embed ESD in curriculaand pedagogy• Review and revise undergraduate curricula to address ESD in linewith Bologna and Lisbon processes• Assist the coordination and dissemination of ESD policy, research,curriculum reform and practice relating to ESD in the partner institutionsthat are expected to function as role models in the region.This process entails six key components:• Develop ESD competences for higher education students, contextualizedto the E.U. and Arab region• Evaluate ESD student competences in the participating highereducation institutions• Establish new models of professional development in ESD• Revise education and certification requirements to include ESDand align these revisions to correspond to the ESD student competencesand the Bologna process• Apply and evaluate the revised education curricula with respect tothe ESD student competences• Promote the reorientation of higher education towards ESDas a viable avenue for ‘whole institution’ curriculum reform,research and teaching across all higher education institutionsin the Arab region.The development, adoption and implementation of each of thesecomponents will be articulated over the three-year duration ofthe project (October 2010–September 2013). Curriculum reviewand revision will be carried out in the disciplines of EducationalSciences, Engineering, Information Technology and Applied Sciences.Appropriate resources will be developed, such as an ESD CurriculumReview Toolkit and Virtual Centers for Curriculum Reform in everypartner higher education institution. Workshops will be implementedto prepare university staff for curriculum review and developmentof syllabuses/modules addressing ESD. It is expected that more than40 per cent of the content of the study programmes in the disciplinesinvolved will be redesigned to address sustainability issues.Institutional mechanisms, inter-faculty cooperation and inter-facultystudent mobility will be developed to ensure continuity. A pilot initiativefor student placement and practicum in local NGOs connected toESD will be implemented to strengthen the role of higher educationinstitutions in society to reach the targets of the DESD.Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Crete on ESDThe RCE Crete was established and acknowledged by the UnitedNations University in 2009 and is led by the UNESCO Chair ICT inESD, Department of Primary Education, University of Crete. It bringstogether local actors (higher education institutions, local governmentbodies, municipalities, chambers of commerce and environmentaleducation centres) to tackle the following key regional challenges:• Stressed natural resources: Reduction of waste of our naturalresources, such as water, energy and solid waste, is critical forthe region’s sustainable future• A changing climate: 50 per cent of land in Crete is at high risk ofdesertification, with dire regional and national consequences• Deforestation: Forests in Crete are threatened notonly by overgrazing but also by forest fires, whetherdeliberate or accidental• Threatened biodiversity: Conservation of endangeredanimals and native plants of Crete is at a critical point• Alternative tourism development: Crete’s sustainabilitywill be seriously threatened and its irreplaceable naturaland cultural resources will be irreversibly damagedunless the tourist industry is re-conceptualized• Loss of indigenous knowledge: Indigenous knowledgeis rapidly being lost and thus needs to be preservedfor the benefit of future generations.The vision of the RCE Crete is to tackle the problemsidentified in the key ESD challenges in the region andcontribute to the promotion of ESD locally, regionallyand globally. Specific objectives include the developmentof a Web-based platform for promoting dialogue amongthe key regional stakeholders involved and other interestedgroups to turn Crete into a sustainable region.Another objective is to raise public awareness and actionregarding the key sustainability issues in the region, especiallyconcerning threatened biodiversity, sustainableagriculture, desertification and traditional knowledge fora sustainable way of life in the region. Short-term sustainabilityactivities will gradually expand to broader areassuch as cities/communities, schools and higher educationinstitutions, businesses and households.Interregional and global collaboration with otherRCEs will be encouraged, with the development ofjoint projects, research and mechanisms for sharing anddisseminating accumulated knowledge, experiences,expertise and examples of good practices in ESD.Major projects (2010–2014)• Develop a Master Action Plan that will help transformthe City of Rethymnon into a model of asustainable city that is clean, healthy, resourceefficientand environmentally conscientious• Develop a Sustainable Community Toolkit that willprovide ideas and descriptions of specific actions thata local government in the region of Crete can take totransform itself into a model of sustainable practices• Develop and implement the concept of ‘ESD SchoolResource Teacher’ through a Web-based training system• Design and develop case studies on ESD regionally,challenging selected primary and secondary schoolsto provide a foundation for addressing these themesacross all schools in the region• Explore the development of alternative tourismthrough the measurement of attitudes and currentactions towards sustainable tourism• Develop a systematic cataloguing of indigenousknowledge and explore its utilization to promote thesustainable development in the region.It is hoped that all of the above initiatives and projectswill continue to enhance the prospect of achieving asustainable future through best practices in ESD.[ 171 ]