The Sustainability Journey of USM: Solution Oriented Campus Ecosphere for Vitalising Higher Education Action on GAP

Abstract

Grappling with the challenges of sustainable development will require a total change in the way we interact with the ecosystems that support our lives and the people we live with. This means that all individuals and societies must be equipped with knowledge, skills, perspectives, values and issues that enable them to drive such changes. Consequently, universities across the world have been trying to integrate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into their curriculum. This global ESD commitment gained further strength when the UNESCO World Conference on ESD launched the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD in 2015 with five priority areas. The sustainability journey of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has a lot in common with the experience of UNESCO globally and GAP in particular, in that the University too is convinced, with its long-term involvement in ESD, that a whole-institution (GAP Priority 2) commitment which involves policies (GAP Priority 1) and practices which factor the creativity of educators (GAP Priority 3), and the youthful vigour of students (GAP Priority 4) are integral to promoting relevant changes that befits the needs of all stakeholders (GAP Priority 5) today and tomorrow. These examples that enable the campus ecoshere to align itself to the broader priorities of sustainable development and vitalise the university across the board to promote learner centred and solution focused education. The intention of this paper is to share USM’s sustainability experience with a wider group of practitioners in the hope that it will enhance action toward GAP and a bigger process of institutional learning for sustainability.