Team Blitz Education
TBE. You have been in higher education for decades and served in many countries. Particularly in view of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) priority areas, how do you see the role of higher education institutions under current scenario?
Prof. Kyriakos: First, thanks to Blitz Media India for reaching out to me. Yes, in my opinion universities and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can contribute significantly to realization of SDGs but due to one reason or another, I also observe that most of these institutions are not contributing to the full potential. HEIs should be in central role as a catalyst to accelerate pace of development plan implementation through training, capacity building and research. Many international initiatives in last decade have helped in creating awareness and understanding among these institutions; and the situation is improving.
TBE. You mentioned about international initiatives for HEIs. Could you specifically share any such initiatives in which you have been involved?
Prof. Kyriakos: Yes, there are some good initiatives by United Nations or its’ supported organizations. I would like to particularly mention about United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and United Nations Global Compact Principles for Responsible Management (PRME). PRME has created great impact in terms of mainstreaming sustainability in universities and B-Schools globally. There are different PRME Working Groups and initiatives, which facilitate involvement of students and faculty on sustainability issues in very systematic way. I am happy to share that recently Berlin School of Business and Innovation (BSBI) has been recognized as a PRME Champion institution for 2024. I learn a lot while steering this to our campus. Implementing different PRME initiatives make the sustainability integration in HEIs purposeful with measurable impact.
TBE. This is quite interesting. Based on your vast experience as an educator, would you like to share the learning about sustainability and sustainable development.
Prof. Kyriakos: As I mentioned, HEIs need to create passion regarding sustainable development among institutional stakeholders. I have taught sustainability issues for more than decades and I feel that it is not always necessary that you create a new course or certificate to teach sustainability. In other words, one may analyze the issues relevant to his or her course and adapt the important SDG linkages. These linkages can be integrated as a part of teaching, assignments and assessment activities. I strongly feel that teaching-learning on sustainability issues should must be localized in view of the programme/ course requirements, target learning groups and other contextual issues. I will share one example: while teaching healthcare management related courses, I always identify important SDG linked issues as highlighted in SDG 3 as well as other SDGs like SDG 5 on Gender equality. In my lecture modules, case-studies or assessment questions, I always related the main course related issues to the identified SDG related issues. I found this to be very effective and productive way of educating young graduates regarding sustainability. Also, I would like to share another recent experiment at BSBI. We have developed an interesting Sustainability Quiz for students as a part of our PRME inspired project. This quiz is shared with all the students which helps in enhancing their awareness and learning about SDGs.
TBE. Thank you for sharing this. We found one article on concept of ‘Global Degree’ authored by you, which was published in UN Chronicle. Could you elaborate about the concept and how does it relate to sustainability.
Prof. Kyriakos:Thank you for highlighting this. On a personal front I always feel pained to see students struggling from one country to another just for equivalence of their certificates and degrees. So, I proposed the concept of Global Degree in which one can earn credits anywhere, but they will be recognized for their learning. I am happy to learn that at country level the same concept has been implemented in India with name of Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) but now the time is to take it to global level in larger interest of students and other stakeholders. In coming times, the Global Degree can be a way forward to collaborate and do purposeful education and research.
TBE. Any final message from your side for driving sustainability and responsible education?
Prof. Kyriakos: First thing, contextualize learning need and plan accordingly. For example; at BSBI we educate about sustainability to students depending on their level of understanding. Second, I always believe that faculty members should drive it and we are trying same that every faculty and student contributes to sustainability in contextually relevant manner. Just for example; we recently introduced primary research policy in our programmes and we are seeing good impact in terms of research output as PRME principles.
