Sustainable Development and Quality Assurance in Higher Education : Transformation of Learning and Society

List of Boxes 0.1 Transformation, sustainability and higher education xxxiii 1.1 Definitions 1.2 Science for sustainable development 1.3 ESD competences of educators 2.1 Major global rankings, 2014 2.2 Changes in our understanding of knowledge production 6.1 Examples of university mission statements 6.2 Quality criteria 8.1 About AASHE and STARS 8.2 Five methods for transforming campus sustainability through STARS 8.3 Sustainability in curriculum, research and student engagement 8.4 Sustainability in Planning, Administration & Engagement (PAE) 11.1 Reference points that can be used to validate learning outcomes in higher education learning programmes 11.2 Successful graduate studies xi List of Figures 4.1 Iterative process of transformation enabled through quality management and assessment 5.1 Internal and external quality management tools as drivers for change 6.1 Preferences in defining the role of higher education by university teachers and employers 6.2 Interconnection between strategic management of the HEI and quality assurance 7.1 Quality management cycle of the University of Graz 7.2 System elements of the quality management cycle at the University of Graz 7.3 Transdisciplinary research at the RCE Graz-Styria 8.1 2014 analysis of average scores for all institutions under STARS Version 1 8.2 Analysis of STARS Version 1 data pertaining to maintained building space ( OP 1: Building Operations & Maintenance ) and new construction ( OP 2: New Building Design & Construction) 8.3 Total emissions for all rated institutions under STARS Version 1.0 through 1.2, displayed in thousands metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) in 2013 8.4 2013 analysis of change in energy consumption (in millions MMBtu) for all STARS Version 1 reports 8.5 2013 analysis of change in building space (in millions gross square feet) for all STARS Version 1 reports 8.6 2013 analysis of PAE subcategory scores for all institutions submitting under STARS Version 1 8.7 2013 analysis of average scores by category based on institution type for all institutions submitting under STARS Version 1 xii List of Figures This book is the result of a collective journey that started with a workshop in early 2012. The workshop was convened with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy and sought to explore how quality assurance systems in higher education can contribute to transformations towards sustainable development. The workshop received enthusiastic support from practitioners involved in education for sustainable development around the world and later grew to include discussions on how the very concept of quality in higher education might, itself, be transformed. We all became particularly interested in figuring out together how the processes of quality assurance and improvement that were under way internationally in higher education might be integrated more effectively with the many successful innovations that had arisen from the societal call for higher education transformation including the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005Development, -2014. . We thank all of these people for their support and insights on what a book with this focus might look like. In the course of the research and writing we benefited from the support of the United Nations University -Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), particularly by encouraging participation of the Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs), many of which are represented by the authors and the chapter reviewers. We wish to acknowledge the involvement of the International Association of Universities (IAU) and the COPERNICUS Alliance -European Network on Higher Education for Sustainable Developmentfor their active support for the book and assistance in reviewing the manuscript. The staff of Palgrave Macmillan have been critical in finalizing the book and we would like to thank them for their constructive assistance in getting the manuscript ready for publication. Most importantly, we would like to thank our authors and their institutions for providing the insights and case studies of how they have been transforming quality for sustainable development in universities and higher education around the world. Addressing the challenges of social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability that will face us all over the coming decades will require productive collaboration and the leverage of insights and xx Acknowledgements experience across many disciplines, contexts and roles. This book is an example of how this can be done. It has, indeed, been a fine team effort. Finally, we would like to thank the readers of this publication, hoping that we will be able to exchange reflections and experiences and, collectively, contribute to the transformation of higher education and of society. Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 List of Boxes 11 List of Figures 12 List of Tables 14 Foreword 15 Foreword 16 Foreword 19 Acknowledgements 20 Notes on Contributors 22 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms 31 Structure of the Book 34 1 Assessment for Transformation – Higher Education Thrives in Redefining Quality Systems 36 Part I Transformation of Higher Education in Changing Society: Implications for Quality Management 58 2 Rankings and the Reconstruction of Knowledge during the Age of Austerity 59 3 Linking Quality Assurance and ESD: Towards a Participative Quality Culture of Sustainable Development in Higher Education 83 4 The Role of Assessment and Quality Management in Transformations towards Sustainable Development: The Nexus between Higher Education, Society and Policy 100 Part II The Meaning and the Role of the Internal Quality Assurance and Its Interplay with External Quality Approaches in Supporting HE Sustainability Transformation 118 5 Drivers for Change in the Austrian University Sector: Implications for Quality Management 119 6 A Quality Assurance System Based on the Sustainable Development Paradigm: The Lithuanian Perspective 146 7 Quality System Development at the University of Graz: Lessons Learned from the Case of RCE Graz-Styria 163 8 STARS as a Multi-Purpose Tool for Advancing Campus Sustainability in US 185 Part III Quality Management and Facilitating Sustainability Competences and Capabilities 215 9 Sustainability and Values Assessment in Higher Education 216 10 Educating Sustainability Change Agents by Design: Appraisals of the Transformative Role of Higher Education 227 11 Quality Management of Education for Sustainability in Higher Education 261 12 Implementing Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Case Study of Albukhary International University, Malaysia 286 Index 313 Front Matter....Pages i-xxxiv Assessment for Transformation — Higher Education Thrives in Redefining Quality Systems....Pages 1-22 Front Matter....Pages 23-23 Rankings and the Reconstruction of Knowledge during the Age of Austerity....Pages 25-48 Linking Quality Assurance and ESD: Towards a Participative Quality Culture of Sustainable Development in Higher Education....Pages 49-65 The Role of Assessment and Quality Management in Transformations towards Sustainable Development: The Nexus between Higher Education, Society and Policy....Pages 66-83 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 Drivers for Change in the Austrian University Sector: Implications for Quality Management....Pages 87-113 A Quality Assurance System Based on the Sustainable Development Paradigm: The Lithuanian Perspective....Pages 114-130 Quality System Development at the University of Graz: Lessons Learned from the Case of RCE Graz-Styria....Pages 131-152 STARS as a Multi-Purpose Tool for Advancing Campus Sustainability in US....Pages 153-182 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Sustainability and Values Assessment in Higher Education....Pages 185-195 Educating Sustainability Change Agents by Design: Appraisals of the Transformative Role of Higher Education....Pages 196-229 Quality Management of Education for Sustainability in Higher Education....Pages 230-254 Implementing Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Case Study of Albukhary International University, Malaysia....Pages 255-281 Back Matter....Pages 283-284 "Higher education has a central role in helping our world address its interlaced social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges. Our universities and colleges can do this by identifying and testing solutions in collaboration with the regions they serve, and by building the leaders of tomorrow. But to do this higher education institutions (HEIs) must transform themselves, and this involves bringing together best practice in quality management and improvement for tertiary education with best practice in education for sustainable development. This book seeks to provide those interested in addressing this double helix of transformation with tested strategies and pathways for undertaking the journey successfully. It pays particular attention to dynamic interplays between organizational, national and international development in higher education policies and practices relevant for quality assurance. It also explores changing understandings of the notion of quality in higher education, relations of quality systems and other HEI strategies and questions of learner competences in the context of HEI strategies."-- Provided by publisher To help address the challenges of sustainable development, higher education institutions must transform themselves, bringing together best practice in quality management for tertiary education with best practice in education for sustainable development. This book provides tested strategies and pathways for undertaking this successfully.