Higher Education and Sustainable Development: Paradox and Possibility (Key Issues in Higher Education)

The ‘Key Issues in Higher Education’ series aims to raise both awareness and the
standards of debate on the fundamental issues that lie at the very heart of higher
education and intends to assist national and international debate.

Higher Education and Sustainable Development examines whether it is actually possible to mandate, plan, monitor and evaluate the higher education sector’s route to the production of educated, innovative, independent, self-determining, critical individuals while at the same time achieving a range of wider policy goals on the side. This book examines this question in the context of a particular international policy issue –
sustainable development – which is now seen across the globe as a necessary and
urgent response to a range of social and environmental issues that threaten the
integrity of the biosphere and human well being. The book concludes that the idea of sustainable development holds both opportunities and dangers for universities as they pursue their proper role in a free society.

Illustrated by seven in-depth case studies this book considers the complex
inter-relationships of a free society and sustainable development in the context of higher education, and aims to makes recommendations for realistic future
development. It is essential reading for the international higher education research community, policy-makers, university managers, students and non-Governmental organizations in the development, environment and social policy sectors.

Dr Stephen Gough is Senior Lecturer in Education and a member of the Centre for Research in Education and the Environment at the University of Bath. He is currently researching the role of learning in sustainable procurement management in a project funded by the UK’s National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency (NHSPASA). He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He has extensive experience of research in environmental and sustainability education around the world and is a member of the International Editorial Board of the Journal Environmental Education Research.

Dr William Scott is a Professor of Education at the University of Bath where he directs the Centre for Research in Education and the Environment. He edits the international refereed academic journals: Environmental Education Research, and Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and works with local and national NGOs with interests in environmental, conservation and sustainability issues. William Scott has conducted a range of research, development and evaluation studies on behalf of government, industry, NGOs and other agencies in this country and abroad, most significantly with WWF.