This Innovation Report is the third annual review of significant developments in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education (HE), as part of the University Educators for Sustainable Development (UE4SD) project. The purpose and focus of the UE4SD project is to reorient the HE curriculum for sustainable development by improving support for university educators to develop professional competences in ESD.

Full text of the report can be downloaded here.

The Online Platform created within the UE4SD project was launched during the final project conference in Gibraltar on June 27th, 2016 by Dr Alexander Leicht, Chief of Education for Sustainable Development department, UNESCO.

The focus of UE4SD is professional development of university educators in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This web resource was created to share the UE4SD experiences, tools and examples of best practice.

• Link to Online Platform
• A user guide to the online platform is available here 

This Innovation Report is the second annual review of significant developments in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education (HE), as part of the University Educators for Sustainable Development (UE4SD) project. The UE4SD initiative seeks to reorient the HE curriculum for sustainability by improving support and professional development in ESD for university educators.

Full text of the report in pdf format.

The annual general project meeting and related events were held in Madrid on November 23 - 25th, 2015. At this moment we can offer you photos from all Madrid events, presentations will be available soon.

Check following photo galleries:

• UE4SD SG Meeting - Nov. 22, 2015,
• UE4SD Annual Meeting - Nov. 23, 2015 - morning session,
• UE4SD Annual Meeting - Nov. 23, 2015 - afternoon session,
• COPERNICUS Alliance Conference - Nov. 24, 2015,
• CA Annual general meeting - Nov. 25, 2015.

Welcome to the second of our bi-annual UE4SD newsletters! The purpose of the newsletter is to serve as a news and information platform for UE4SD partners and external stakeholders. It seeks to provide information about UE4SD activities, meetings, updates from project work packages as well as outcomes and resources that may be of interest to partners. The newsletters will also share partners’ profiles and provide details of relevant news and contact details.

This Innovation Report is the first annual review of significant developments in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education (HE), as part of the University Educators for Sustainable Development (UE4SD) project. The UE4SD initiative addresses the need for effective professional development in ESD, for staff who teach and support student learning in HE institutions, in order to reorient the curriculum and extend the contribution of HE to sustainable futures through education and learning. 

Full text of the report in pdf format.

The Award is an initiative of the Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and takes place every 2 years. Higher Education institutions can submit their sustainability activities, which are awarded in 8 categories. This year they had 82 applications.

More can be found in the brochure of the Sustainability Award (UE4SD information is on page 39).

The overall Network management will be undertaken by the lead organisation of the project, the University of Gloucestershire (UK).

UE4SD will operate at a sub-regional level. Four sub-regions will be created and co-ordinated by lead partners:

Outputs:

• A document which maps opportunities for university educators to develop ESD competences through professional development in Europe.
• A publication which will showcase 8 case studies from the leading practice identified.
• An online database of resources to assist universities interested in supporting the development of ESD competences of educators.
• A document which will outline a framework of a Sustainability in Higher Education Professional Development and Networking Platform in Europe (Sustainability in Higher Education Academy).
• A conference organised by UE4SD open to the general public.
• A website to support information and knowledge exchange as well as dissemination of Network activities and materials.

Outcomes:

• A review of the state of the art in the areas of ESD competences, professional development and teaching and learning quality.
• A deeper understanding of the connections between ESD and teaching and learning quality.
• A platform for supporting university educators in developing their own competences in ESD.
• An increased level of awareness on the importance of addressing ESD competences in professional development and training in universities.

The European Council[1] has confirmed that sustainable development is one of the main challenges in Europe and remains a fundamental objective of the European Union under the Lisbon Treaty.