<p><font color="#33711E"><strong>Day 3 – Session 5A: Partnerships in Education for Sustainable Development</strong></font></p>

Queen's Park 1, 08:30 - 10:00

08:30 - 08:50
5.A.1. The Scholarship of Engagement and Sustainable Development: The Miriam College Experience
Grace Aguiling-Dalisay
Miriam College, Philippines

Teaching, research and extension have been identified as the threefold mission of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), with the main activities generally limited to teaching and research. In 1990, however, Ernest Boyer proposed a redefinition of the HEI mission which included four functions: the scholarship of discovery, which referred to research and other investigative efforts; the scholarship of integration, which involved synthesizing skills; the scholarship of application and engagement, which involved service activities related to one's specialization; and the educational and transformative aspects of the scholarship of teaching. This spawned new perspectives in university education such that community engagement, involvement and service were pushed from the academic margins to the core. Excellence was assessed in terms of "Service to the nation and the world" and "how well we treated people a world away who have nothing in common with us but their humanity". This paper presents the three ways in which Miriam College (MC) has been engaged in the scholarship of service with its community partners. This case study will share lessons learned and the challenges still to be overcome, drawn from experiences with various types of partners. The paper also presents the key elements that facilitate change and break the cycle of disadvantage for both sides of the partnership.

Download the paper (pdf, 50kb) and presentation (pdf, 1.4mb)

08:50 - 09:10
5.A.2. "From the Top Down": Establishing Sustainable Community-Focused Environmental Health Networks in Ecuador
Jerry Spiegel, Jaime Breilh, Bill Bowie, Margot Parkes, and Annalee Yassi
University of British Columbia, Canada

The University of British Columbia (UBC) "Sustainably Managing Environmental Health Risk in Ecuador" project was established in 2005 with the goal of building human resources and strengthening institutional capabilities for effectively reducing the health impacts associated with environmental health risks in Ecuador. This trans-disciplinary six-year initiative involves professors and students from 10 centres and institutes at the University of British Columbia. The University Partnerships in Co-operation and Development project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), relies on the strengthening of links between universities and communities alongside a regional network involving Latin American centres of excellence in Cuba and Mexico to enhance sustainability of the capacities that will be built. Through an innovative national programme involving four Ecuadorian universities, 30 Masters degree students (inter-regional and intercultural, with five indigenous community leaders) have completed an interactive problem-based trans-disciplinary curriculum that was delivered in community settings. These students are presently conducting participatory action research in over 15 communities, covering environmental health topics including pesticide poisoning, heavy metal contamination, dengue, water and sanitation, and disaster preparedness. This paper focuses on partnerships for enabling universities to link directly with communities and involve other stakeholders, such as government ministries to ensure sustainability and impact.

Download the paper (pdf, 750kb) and presentation (pdf, 1.3mb)

09:10 - 09:30
5.A.3. Building an Education Community: A University Initiative for Collaboration
Jae-Tack Lim, Eun-Ju Kim, and Ji-Hyun Jung
Pusan National University, Republic of Korea

Current Korean early childhood education (ECE) practice focuses more on children's cognitive development than on developing children's personality and spirit. At the same time, emerging trends indicate greater numbers of young children are suffering from health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and atopic dermatitis. This paper presents the results of an ethnographic study which investigated a project which was initiated as part of a university department's efforts to reform ECE practice in the Republic of Korea and to identify the effect of university involvement. The initiative involves collaboration between an ECE organization and a regional community association and aims to address the key issues affecting children enrolled in ECE. The project provides children with healthy organic meals; teaches children a nature-friendly educational programme; initiates activities to change parental attitudes and behaviour; raises teachers' ecological awareness; creates financial resources for managing the ECE organization; shares and diffuses ecological understanding; and fosters joint action.

Download the paper (pdf, 60kb) and presentation (ppt, 900kb)