Thursday 14 August 2014

How a blog shaped the Planetshire University (PU) Model (v2) | Sustainability in the curriculum as a driver of reputation enhancement and stakeholder engagement

Since its launch on 1 January 2013 as the blogging platform of the Sustainable University One-stop Shop experiment (http://www.sustainableuni.kk5.org/), this blog published 11 posts until January 2014, gradually building up the Planetshire University Model.

1 January 2013
Sustainable University Notes: An introduction

10 January 2013
Sustainability: The challenge

24 January 2013
Sustainability: The definition

15 February 2013
Education’s role in addressing sustainability and ESD

24 May 2013
Higher Education’s role in building a sustainable world

21 July 2013
Pathways to a sustainable university

6 October 2013
EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University (Part 1): curriculum content and delivery

21 October 2013
Opportunities for integrating sustainability across curricula (Part 2 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University)

30 October 2013
University of Planetshire approach to integrating sustainability across the curriculum (Part 3 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University)

4 November 2013
Outputs of the University of Planetshire Approach to integrating sustainability across the curriculum (Part 4 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University)

1 January 2014
Will it work? – The University of Planetshire Approach to integrating sustainability across the curriculum (Part 5 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University)

Then, the 12th post, on The Planetshire University Model, was published in March 2014:

Sustainability as an enhancer of reputation and financial position | The Planetshire University (PU) model

Further development of this Model led to its second version in August 2014. The proposal in full (also as PDF) is available from:

Sustainability in the curriculum as a driver of reputation enhancement and stakeholder engagement | The Planetshire University (PU) Model (v2)

This proposed R&D project will aim to enhance academics’ engagement in sustainability at Planetshire University (PU, a hypothetical university) while:
·        Enriching and supporting PU’s programme of integrating sustainability across its curriculum, and
·        Using sustainability as a driver of the institution’s reputation enhancement and stakeholder engagement

Its Executive Summary is as follows:

This research and development project will aim to enhance academics’ engagement in sustainability at Planetshire University or PU (a hypothetical university) while (a) enriching and supporting PU’s programme of integrating sustainability across its curriculum, and (b) using sustainability as a driver of the institution’s reputation enhancement and stakeholder engagement.

Its strategy will bring together PU’s disciplines, stakeholders and efforts onto a common online platform by way of a project that comprises four elements: (1) academic engagement in sustainability, (2) a sound theoretical basis, (3) a practical approach, and (4) mutually beneficial, inclusive and regular engagement. Academic engagement comprises: co-create discipline-friendly sustainability profiles through a research study; enable academics to showcase their expertise in the public domain; and help their learning and teaching of sustainability. The sound theoretical basis spans both organisation theory (e.g., Ambiguity Advantage, Stakeholder Approach and CSR) and theories in SHE (e.g. campus as a living lab for sustainability learning, three curricula opportunities for ESD, and the 4C Model). The practical approach revolves around the learning from the proposer’s experiment called The Sustainable University One-stop Shop http://www.sustainableuni.kk5.org/ (recognised in UNEP’s Greening Universities Toolkit). Mutually beneficial, inclusive and regular engagement is ensured by a number of ways, including provision of a choice of three welcoming gateways to the world of sustainability (Subjects, Interests and Continents), use of diverse means for engagement (ranging from research to poetry) and setting up and leading an RCE on ESD as part of UN University’s global RCE network.

Project deliverables are of seven types, under three broad categories: (1) online one-stop shop suite (i.e., PU One-stop Shop for a Sustainable World, flanked by six satellite websites, including Curriculum, Campus and Research); (2) offline deliverables, including an ESD helpdesk, academic papers and press articles; and (3) RCE Planetshire tools (if established) (e.g. RCE London http://www.londonrce.kk5.org).

The proposal can be implemented as an R&D project in which the proposer is happy to work as a research assistant, or as a PhD project. He has the necessary strengths to play the diverse roles demanded by this project, including journalism, photography, design and marketing/branding. Feasibility of this project is strengthened by a number of factors, such as innovative integration, cost effectiveness, simple implementation, mutually beneficial stakeholder engagement and the proposer’s strengths.

Among this project’s other benefits are staff development, cost savings and contribution to HE agendas (e.g. student recruitment, employability, carbon reduction, research impact, internationalisation, quality, e-learning, access). By becoming the host institution of this innovative PU Model, a university can position itself at the forefront of the global endeavour for Sustainability in HE and ESD.

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I am looking for a host institution to implement this innovative model. If you are interested, please contact me on asitha_jayawardena@yahoo.com

Become the host institution of this innovative Planetshire University (PU) Model and place your university at the forefront of the global endeavour for Sustainability in Higher Education and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)….


NOTE:

Asitha Jayawardena is the founder of The Sustainable University One-stop Shop (SUOSS) (http://www.sustainableuni.kk5.org) and The Planetshire University (PU) model (http://sunewsinfo.wordpress.com/proposal/), which frames sustainability as an opportunity for organisations, particularly universities, for reputation enhancement and stakeholder engagement. His LinkedIn Group is ‘Sustainability, Education and Engagement | ESD at Planetshire University’ http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Sustainability-Education-Engagement-ESD-Planetshire-8102240. His profile and portfolio http://issuu.com/aij3/docs/profile-asitha

The Sustainable University One-stop Shop experiment www.sustainableuni.kk5.org