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“Introducing Education for Sustainable Development into the Curricula of German Universities – Trends and Challenges”. Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ Germany. Main Messages. Challenges: What is the particular way the goals of the UN-Decade are carried out in Germany?
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“Introducing Education for Sustainable Development into the Curricula of German Universities – Trends and Challenges” Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ Germany
Main Messages • Challenges: What is the particular way the goals of the UN-Decade are carried out in Germany? • Trends: Institutional Capacity Building for ESD through eLearning
University of Bremen • 2,500 university employees • 1,500 scientists and scholars • 1,000 administrative, technical and secretarial staff • about 100 study programs • 18,000 students
German Higher Education System 100 Universitäten - Universities - 167 Fachhochschulen - Universities of Applied Sciences - 2,900 Degree Programs 2 Million Students
Coordinating bodies of the UN-Decade in Germany • German National Committee • Round Table • Working Groups The Working Group on Higher Education is a consortium of researchers and lecturers from German higher education institutions working towards establishing sustainability in all aspects of the university. The Working Group has published a memorandum “Universities and Sustainability“,
Sustainable and unsustainable development • “The aim of Education for Sustainable Development is to put people in a position to play an active role in shaping an ecologically sustainable, economically efficient and socially just environment, while remaining mindful of the global dimension.” (BMBF 2002, p. 4) Sustainability: Archiving economic purposes “and” maintaining all material and immaterial sources of resources for future benefits • My Assumption: • The knowledge for shaping a sustainable world is not compatible with the general knowledge we teach in universities • The knowlegde is irritating to most brains and not compatible with usual behaviour
Institutional Capacity Building for ESD through eLearning • Capacity building is the challenge! • eLearning one of the solutions?
Test centre of the University of Bremen • Benefits: • eTesting on demand • Result are given immediately • Efficient way of testing large cohorts of students
Summary and Open Questions Integration problems Capacity building Central virtual academy may provide lectures to thousands of students Long term financing of the virtual lectures has to be assured eLearning modules could be enriched to a blended learning lecture in the prospective universities • Integration processes are not self-runners • ESD is a provocation to traditional knowledge • Additional capacity is needed to deliver ESD to all students