Quality Assurance, Enhancement and Education for Sustainable Development: Creating a Framework for Dialogue

Aston University, UK: 2nd July 2012

The HEFCE project national conference, held at Aston University on 2nd July 2012, created foundations for ongoing strategic dialogue among key advisers, practitioners and agencies involved in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a priority issue for the future quality of HE curricula. The aim was to engage in discussion among those developing strategic enhancement approaches to ESD, and those working in quality assurance and enhancement to understand how contemporary educational agendas such as ESD can inform existing curriculum quality systems.

This event raised the stakes in foregrounding the role of ESD in the context of broader academic strategies and quality frameworks, with a view to supporting the sector in scaling up future efforts on ESD through quality assurance and enhancement. The conference drew on the findings and insights emerging from the project’s five institutional pilots and its sector engagement work. Please see the attached programme and opening slides for further information.

Anthony McClaran, CEO of the Quality Assurance Agency and Chair of the project's Expert Advisory Board, provided the headline presentation. The slides from this presentation can be downloaded here. The QAA also co-led a workshop to take soundings for the development of a sector guidance briefing on ESD in 2012-13.

Professor Geoff Scott from the University of Western Sydney, Australia, provided his keynote electronically, examining the intersection of ESD and quality. His presentation slides can be downloaded here and the presentation is available to view below.

Supported through the Higher Education Funding Council for England LGM Project: Leading Curriculum Change for Sustainability – Strategic Approaches to Quality Enhancement