Sustainability has a long history in SE Asia
Good overview of the growing importance of sustainability in higher education by Jillian Berman in USA Today, “College students are flocking to sustainability degrees, careers.”
Several schools are mentioned, as is AASHE (The Associate for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education). Both undergraduate programs, graduate programs, majors, minors and other initiatives are surging in popularity. I know that last year at the AASHE conference it had grown enourmously from the first one I attended six years ago – from 300-400 people to close to 1,800 participants, 400 presenters and 130 exhibitors!
This growth in interest is across the board – from undergraduate majors, to MBAs, architecture degrees to student life. Not content to just focus on sustainability in the classroom, there is a lot going on outside the classroom as well – with campus organic gardens, LEED certified buildings, recycling, etc.
What is most exciting about this is that the initiatives are largely student driven – as students get together to push the (sometimes reluctant) school administrators for more green / sustainable initiatives on-campus.
We’ve noticed the trend ourselves – we’ve got a record number of students enrolled this fall, and are seeing the students who do come have a deeper understanding of sustainability issues than in the past. It is enourmously encouraging to see the growth over the last 10 years at ISDSI, as sustainability has moved increasingly to the center of higher education!
