Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate

气候变化被广泛认为是我们这个时代最严峻的挑战，最近的政府间气候变化专门委员会（ipcc）报告指出，为了避免破坏性影响，世界必须在2050年之前完全转向可再生能源。该项目旨在加强低收入国家大学在应对这一挑战方面的贡献。研究和创新在这项任务中的作用得到了广泛认可，世界各地的大学都密切参与监测、解释和应对全球变暖的过程和影响的任务。然而，大学在应对气候危机方面的更广泛作用尚未得到充分研究。大学提供的课程如何解决气候变化问题，学生在校内外都参与了哪些与气候相关的学习形式？大学通过社区参与活动、促进公众对该问题的辩论以及在其自身机构形式中体现可持续性原则的方式，对气候变化产生了哪些影响？鉴于这场危机的深刻社会、政治和经济根源，以及参与专业发展、公民行动和公众意识的必要性，大学在知识生产之外的这些作用对于应对气候变化至关重要。与此同时，很明显，尽管大学在这方面具有潜力，但还可以做得更多。在低收入和中等收入国家尤其如此，气候变化最具破坏性的影响对这些国家造成了不成比例的影响。本项目在巴西、斐济、肯尼亚和莫桑比克高等教育系统的背景下解决这些问题。之所以选择这些国家，是因为这些国家的人口容易受到与气候有关的灾害的影响，但也因为这些国家的高等教育系统有潜力应对这些挑战，并产生可用于其他情况的知识。这些国家在文化、政治、经济、地理以及高等教育体系方面各具特色，这将为四国之间以及与英国之间的学习提供巨大的可能性。这项研究将首先调查大学在教学、研究和社区参与中对气候变化问题的报道情况。随后将在这四个国家的12所大学建立参与性行动研究小组，包括学生、讲师、高级管理人员和当地社区的代表。这些小组将根据自己的优先事项设计、实施和监督应对当地挑战的举措。干预措施可能包括为学生提供新的模块，为处理环境问题的当地专业人员提供培训讲习班，以社区为基础的备灾项目，或开发碳中和校园。从这些不同的经验中学习将有助于理论建设和理解教育与可持续发展之间的关系，以及高等教育在实现可持续发展目标方面的作用。会议将着重强调南南合作和学习，以及从高/中/低收入国家之间、英语国家和葡语国家高等教育系统之间、非洲、太平洋和拉丁美洲之间的互动和比较中产生的见解。虽然大多数人承认教育在实现可持续发展目标方面可以发挥一定作用，但需要更加密切地关注最有利的体制形式和做法。本项目在四个低收入和中等收入国家的背景下努力解决这个问题，为更广泛的国际社会提供了重要的经验教训。

Climate change is widely recognised as the most critical challenge of our age, with the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report suggesting that to avoid devastating effects, the world must move entirely to renewables by 2050. This project aims to strengthen the contribution of universities in lower-income countries to addressing this challenge.The role of research and innovation in this task is widely acknowledged, and universities around the world are closely involved in the tasks of monitoring, interpreting and responding to the process and effects of global warming. Yet the broader role of universities in addressing the climate crisis is as yet under-researched. How do courses provided by universities address the question of climate change, and what forms of climate-related learning do students engage with on campus and beyond? What impacts do universities have on climate change through community engagement activities, in fostering public debate on the issue and in the way they embody the principles of sustainability in their own institutional forms?These roles of universities beyond knowledge production are critical in addressing climate change, given the deep social, political and economic roots of the crisis, and the need to engage with professional development, civic action and public awareness. At the same time, it is clear that despite the potentialities of universities in this regard, much more could be done. This is particularly the case in low and middle-income countries in which there is disproportionate impact of the most devastating effects of climate change.This project addresses these questions in the context of the higher education systems of Brazil, Fiji, Kenya and Mozambique. These countries have been selected on account of the vulnerability of their populations to climate-related disasters, but also because of the potentialities of their higher education systems for responding to the challenges, and in generating learning that can be utilised in other contexts. The countries have distinct features in relation to their culture, politics, economics and geography, as well as in their higher education systems, which will allow for significant possibilities of learning across the four countries and with the UK. The research will start with a survey of the state of play as regards universities' coverage of climate change issues within their teaching, research and community engagement. Participatory action research groups will then be created in 12 universities across the four countries, including representatives of students, lecturers, senior management and local communities. These groups will design, implement and monitor initiatives to address local challenges, in line with their own priorities. Interventions may include new modules for students, training workshops for local professionals working with environmental issues, community based projects on disaster preparedness, or developing a carbon neutral campus.The learning generated from these diverse experiences will contribute to theory building and understanding of the relationship between education and sustainable development, and of the role of higher education in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There will be a strong emphasis on South-South collaboration and learning, and insights generated from interaction and comparison across high/middle/low income countries, between Anglophone and Lusophone higher education systems, and between Africa, the Pacific and Latin America.While most acknowledged that education has some role to play in achieving the SDGs, much closer attention is needed to the institutional forms and practices that are most conducive. This project grapples with this question in the context of four low and middle-income countries, with significant lessons for the broader global community.