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Higher education for a sustainable future

Higher education for a sustainable future Patrick Blessinger, Enakshi Sengupta, and Taisir Subhi Yamin St John’s University, New York City, USA, The American University of Kurdistan, and The International Centre for Innovation in Education For much of human history people used renewable resources to provide the basic energy needed for eating, trading, transporting and simple social development (for example, wind and water for milling and seafaring as well as biomass for heating, cooking and shelter). In other words, in pre-industrial societies, humans, out of the need for survival, learned how to adapt their ways of life to fit the natural rhythms and conditions of their environment. Then, with the advent of the industrial revolution, societies began to use fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) on a large scale to drive the growth of mass production systems and international trade. With the advent of post-industrial societies over the past 200 years, [...]

Patrick Blessinger2019-02-24T17:07:34+00:00December 8, 2018|Tags: Education for Sustainable Development, Enakshi Sengupta, Lifelong Learning, Patrick Blessinger, Taisir Subhi Yamin, University World News, V5A11|

The inquiry-based approach to higher ed that could prevent college students from dropping out

The inquiry-based approach to higher ed that could prevent college students from dropping out Patrick Blessinger St John’s University, New York City, USA There may be a more democratic way of learning than declaring a traditional college major. A growing body of research-based evidence shows that student learning communities (SLCs) can provide an effective path to increased academic achievement as well as student engagement and retention. Student learning communities are curricular programs designed by faculty and instructional design staff working together with a group of students. These students (known as “the cohort”) take a shared set of courses that are usually connected by a common theme or overarching set of questions or learning outcomes – a key feature of inquiry-based learning. Any educational institution such as a school or college or university is, by definition, a learning community. However, in a traditional program of study, the courses students take often seem not to [...]

Patrick Blessinger2018-11-25T12:47:16+00:00November 25, 2018|Tags: Hechinger Report, Inquiry-Based Learning, Learning Communities, Patrick Blessinger, V5A10|

A higher ideal for higher education

A higher ideal for higher education Patrick Blessinger St John’s University, New York City, USA Higher education is in the midst of a revolution. The number of students participating in higher education worldwide is expected to grow from 28 million in 1970 to 262 million by 2025. This growth rate represents an immense increase in the global demand for higher education. This demand has been fueled by far-reaching political, economic, social, and technological changes, including legal reforms, economic competition, social movements, and technological innovations. The increasing demand for higher education suggests that as nations become more globalised and democratised, more people participate in higher education of all types to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills needed to better function and compete in an increasingly globalised and complex world. Governments and higher education institutions have responded to these changes by implementing new models to provision and delivery education, creating new academic programs and student services, developing internationalisation strategies and global research partnerships, and forging new inter-institutional teaching and learning collaborations. As a result, higher education has moved, over [...]

Patrick Blessinger2018-11-25T12:25:35+00:00October 23, 2018|Tags: HERDSA Connect, Humanism, Humanistic Education, Patrick Blessinger, V5A9|

The shifting paradigm of higher education

The shifting paradigm of higher education Patrick Blessinger, Shai Reshef and Enakshi Sengupta St John’s University, New York City, USA, The University of the People, USA, and The American University of Kurdistan The word paradigm comes from the Greek meaning framework or example. Thus, broadly defined, a paradigm is a related set of concepts and practices (that is, a mode of inquiry together with the related theories, principles, models, taxonomies, methods, rules and assumptions) that define and provide the example of or the framework for a given knowledge domain (science, humanities, art) and discipline and field. So, from an educational perspective, at the domain level, there is the scientific paradigm, the humanistic paradigm and the artistic paradigm. Fields are particular areas of study within a discipline, or that cut across several disciplines, and they are usually centred on applied knowledge (for example, professions, careers or occupations). It is typically from fields that communities of practice emerge. Many [...]

Patrick Blessinger2018-11-25T12:16:26+00:00October 6, 2018|Tags: Enakshi Sengupta, Equity, Paradigm, Patrick Blessinger, Shai Reshef, University World News, V5A8|

Higher education’s key role in sustainable development

Higher education’s key role in sustainable development Patrick Blessinger, Enakshi Sengupta and Mandla Makhanya St John’s University, New York City, USA, American University of Kurdistan, and University of South Africa The United Nations defines sustainable development as “…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. As such, sustainable development not only deals with environmental issues, but economic, social and cultural issues as well. Given the increased demands placed on societies and the environment due to, among other factors, increased human migration, increased urbanisation and industrialisation as well as the ongoing depletion of non-renewable resources, it is clear that global action is needed to create a more sustainable future. Given its primary role as knowledge producer, higher education can serve as a powerful means to help create a more sustainable future. Thus, the concept of ‘education for sustainable development’ has become, in recent [...]

Patrick Blessinger2018-10-06T11:16:19+00:00September 8, 2018|Tags: Education for Sustainable Development, Enakshi Sengupta, Mandla Makhanya, Patrick Blessinger, Sustainable Development, University World News, V5A7|

Rethinking higher education in the service of humanity

Rethinking higher education in the service of humanity Patrick Blessinger St. John's University (NYC) and International HETL Association As I reflect on the first 25 research-based articles I have authored and co-authored over the past several years with University World News, I would like to evaluate and summarise the key findings that have emerged from the empirical evidence used to ground these articles. The findings discussed in these articles is further explicated in the peer-reviewed book series, Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, a research collaboration between Emerald Group Publishing, the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL) and hundreds of educational researchers and scholars from around the world. Other research on higher education is disseminated through the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. HETL (in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council or ECOSOC) initiated this book series to further the mission of ECOSOC and to support goal four of the UN Sustainable [...]

Patrick Blessinger2018-07-20T12:25:26+00:00July 20, 2018|Tags: Democracy, Human Rights, Patrick Blessinger, University World News, V5A5|

Academic freedom is essential to democracy

Academic freedom is essential to democracy Patrick Blessinger and Hans de Wit St. John's University (NYC), International HETL Association, and Boston College Since the inception of the first universities nearly a thousand years ago, the freedom to pursue intellectual inquiry has served as a core value for professors, students and educational institutions. Freedom of inquiry became more important during the Renaissance and Reformation periods as well as the Scientific Revolution because of their focus on freedom of thought and critical inquiry. Following these periods of dramatic change, freedom of inquiry took on greater importance as universities transitioned from scholasticism, which emphasised dialectic reasoning as the main pedagogical approach, to humanism, which emphasised critical thinking and empirical observation. Since higher education is, by definition, an environment where new knowledge is produced and consumed, it follows that the freedom to engage in intellectual inquiry is essential to the purpose of higher education, to the mission of higher education institutions and to [...]