Change Project Approach for Reorienting University …
265
The second barrier in new program implementation was related to engaging
trainers for the new program. Unexpectedly, those teachers who were practicing
active learning techniques in their teaching finally were refusing to transfer their
knowledge to other colleagues. The main reason was as well in a general lack of
university community justification of these methods, especially from experienced
elderly professors and some senior lecturers. Thus, the big value of the CPA case
here was in conversion this “out-of-box” practices to a completely new “business as
usual” paradigm, based on sustainability principles.
The main aim of the change project of Uppsala university was to enable a more
open, interdisciplinary and attentive dialogue and methods for the students to be able
to experience the world from many different perspectives, that is not only instrumental
but also thought provoking. Teachers in higher education are not only for ‘producing’
people for the status-quo society but should also facilitate different thought processes
that create agents of change for the common good. This cannot be done by solely
implementing a standard or initiative like the SDGs where the students pick one box
of seventeen to work with. In the business context the SDGs have begun to dominate
the whole narrative and often ignore the fact that the goals are full of contradictions
and ambiguity that needs to be discussed and put in context with various perspectives.
Thus, a conscious focus on critical thinking and an open dialogue, that often is taken
for granted in higher education, is a fundamental factor for ESD and cannot be
replaced with a standard or a model. Going from the question of ‘how can we control
the situation’ to ‘how can we take care of the situation’ is a crucial move towards a
deeper implementation of ESD and starts the conversation with open-ended questions
about the future—where the educators and the students meet in the process of learning
and creating good judgement. This process is not solely about knowing but about
deciding what knowledge deserves salvation, because questions of ESD are not only
scientific, they are moral. Moral questions and answers cannot be transmitted from
one person to another, but they need to be discussed in a space and developed within
a human being, where everybody’s voice and human conviction is heard. The course
focuses on transformation for the new rather than transmitting the old. To enable
this, it was important to introduce new concepts into the business vocabulary, that
is oftentimes very instrumental and solution oriented. Concepts such as (1) ‘wicked
problems’ that cannot be solved but tamed. ‘Increasingly, these are the problems
strategists face—and for which they are ill equipped’ (Camillus 2008, p. 1) because
of the solution and control-oriented ways the business field tends to look at the world.
When writing the concept into the course description, the faculty wondered what the
word meant and if it was of any relevance to the context. This started a conversation
about the meaning and relevance for the concept of wicked issues that has become
increasingly important in the vocabulary of ESD.
265
The second barrier in new program implementation was related to engaging
trainers for the new program. Unexpectedly, those teachers who were practicing
active learning techniques in their teaching finally were refusing to transfer their
knowledge to other colleagues. The main reason was as well in a general lack of
university community justification of these methods, especially from experienced
elderly professors and some senior lecturers. Thus, the big value of the CPA case
here was in conversion this “out-of-box” practices to a completely new “business as
usual” paradigm, based on sustainability principles.
The main aim of the change project of Uppsala university was to enable a more
open, interdisciplinary and attentive dialogue and methods for the students to be able
to experience the world from many different perspectives, that is not only instrumental
but also thought provoking. Teachers in higher education are not only for ‘producing’
people for the status-quo society but should also facilitate different thought processes
that create agents of change for the common good. This cannot be done by solely
implementing a standard or initiative like the SDGs where the students pick one box
of seventeen to work with. In the business context the SDGs have begun to dominate
the whole narrative and often ignore the fact that the goals are full of contradictions
and ambiguity that needs to be discussed and put in context with various perspectives.
Thus, a conscious focus on critical thinking and an open dialogue, that often is taken
for granted in higher education, is a fundamental factor for ESD and cannot be
replaced with a standard or a model. Going from the question of ‘how can we control
the situation’ to ‘how can we take care of the situation’ is a crucial move towards a
deeper implementation of ESD and starts the conversation with open-ended questions
about the future—where the educators and the students meet in the process of learning
and creating good judgement. This process is not solely about knowing but about
deciding what knowledge deserves salvation, because questions of ESD are not only
scientific, they are moral. Moral questions and answers cannot be transmitted from
one person to another, but they need to be discussed in a space and developed within
a human being, where everybody’s voice and human conviction is heard. The course
focuses on transformation for the new rather than transmitting the old. To enable
this, it was important to introduce new concepts into the business vocabulary, that
is oftentimes very instrumental and solution oriented. Concepts such as (1) ‘wicked
problems’ that cannot be solved but tamed. ‘Increasingly, these are the problems
strategists face—and for which they are ill equipped’ (Camillus 2008, p. 1) because
of the solution and control-oriented ways the business field tends to look at the world.
When writing the concept into the course description, the faculty wondered what the
word meant and if it was of any relevance to the context. This started a conversation
about the meaning and relevance for the concept of wicked issues that has become
increasingly important in the vocabulary of ESD.