Annual Report RCE-Uppsala

Transcription

1 Annual Report RCE-Uppsala RCE name: RCE Uppsala appling to be RCE Uppsala Gotland Region: Region of Uppsala Country: Sweden Date of RCE aknowledgement: 19 december 2013 Short description of RCE: RCE Uppsala is a plattform for colaboration between academic and non academic institutions and organizations on transformative learning for sustainable futures. It is a problem based plattform that aims at providing practice oriented yet research laden common frame of reference for innovative, transformative and collaborative ESD initiatives in the region. Vision of the RCE: RCE Uppsala s vision is to contribute to sustainable development in Uppsala by working with projects and with learning processes that provide: - Increased opportunities for democratic participation in processes related to sustainable development in the region, with a particular focus on youth and young adults, to enable the younger generation to influence the future they will live in. - Improved social equality and greater quality of life for the regions inhabitants, while the regions' ecological footprint is reduced. In that way RCE Uppsala is contributing to the fulfilment of both local, regional, environmental and global sustainability goals. - Education for sustainable development that influence both formal and informal education and learning in the region.

2 Organization hosting RCE: Uppsala Centre for sustainable development (CSD) RCE mailing adress for corespondece: RCE web site: Leadership and governace structure: The RCE is coordinated and managed by Uppsala Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD Uppsala). The RCE have one main coordinator, a member of the CSD Uppsala staff. The coordinator is the network s primary contact and also coordinates meetings. The meetings are chaired by one organization/institution in the Steering committee (SC) and we share responsibility in organizing the meetings with support from the coordinator. The present Steering Committee (SC) is the main decision-making body of the RCE. This is made up by representatives from all key regional partners. To date, the SC has been decided upon and will be re-evaluated in September 2016 to include other partners. The SC have meetings 4 times a year and decide on long term strategic and practical issues, including project RCE-approval, new RCE partners and large scale collaborations. Guiding principles for the management of the RCE: - The coordination and management of the RCE is set up in a way so that resources needed for coordination is held to a minimum. Any resources put into the RCE should first and foremost be directed toward projects and activities, not administration and bureaucracy. - Management of the RCE must be inclusive and done in an intergenerational manner, including high level of student participation. - Management of the RCE (and therefore also partners within the RCE) must be transboundary, including representatives from local and regional decision makers, members from university faculty as well as local businesses/ngos and civil society. List of core partners within the RCE Folkuniversitetet is an adult educational association that offers a wide range of adult education all over Sweden. Uppsala is home to one of five offices. Our idea is to provide people with prospects for a richer life, both privately and professionally, by means of knowledge and creative activity. In Sweden Folkuniversitetet has a long tradition of adult, non-formal education and has served as a platform for public opinion in a wide range of issues over the years. One of Folkuniversitetets main ideas is making academic research and findings available to a broader population and the dissemination of knowledge outside the academic city of Uppsala, to the rest of the country, is therefore of great interest. Folkuniversitetet wants to create opportunities for new partnership and methods for inviting and engaging citizens in issues concerning sustainability.

3 The Department of Education (EDU) hosts the Regional Development Centre (RUC) at Uppsala university (2004 -), with the purpose of building sustainable collaborations between Uppsala University and 8 municipalities in the region (Enköping, Heby, Håbo, Knivsta, Sigtuna, Tierp, Uppsala and Östhammar) regarding teacher training, business development, competence and research. RUC offers a platform for peer exchange between regional schools and their teachers and university scholars regarding theoretical and practical aspects of teaching and learning. RUC is organized and managed by a board with representatives from the municipalities and the university, which offers the RCE a channel into ESD-stakeholders such as school leadership, teachers and pupils. RUC collaborates regionally with Uppsala Regional Council, the County Administrative Board and Energihuset Uppsala AB. The faculty of educational sciences and EDU is responsible for Uppsala University's teacher training program (VFU). Hence, EDU has an organized collaboration concerning teacher-supervised practical work in 12 municipalities in the counties of Uppsala, Västmanland and Stockholm. All teacher students at Uppsala University are obliged to undergo teacher-supervised practical work throughout the program. Since ESD is a prioritized area within the teacher training programmes at Uppsala University, the VFU allows for the students to monitor the ESD initiatives in the region on the basis of up-to-date ESD research, which strengthens the already strong connections between Uppsala University and Uppsala concerning sustainable development. CSD Uppsala collaborates with a long list of stakeholders including Uppsala Municipality, Folkuniversitetet, Faculty staff at departments at Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and a long list of local and regional NGOs. Some networks and collaborations include: CEMUS Forum is a separately coordinated forum for students, PhD-students, researchers and the public. The aims and goals for the Forum is to, through projects and initiatives, be a place where actors can meet, across disciplinary and other boundaries, to discuss and find potential answers to questions concerning sustainable development. The Forum coordinates student-coordinated projects for sustainable development, several open lecture series free and open to all, seminars/workshops and lunch discussions. Several of these projects include partners from the region academic or non-academic. CEMUS Education is University education coordinated and facilitated by students. This is, in itself, a collaborative approach to learning where students and senior faculty staff work together with lecturers from Uppsala s two Universities, from national and international Universities and actors from local and regional government, NGOs and businesses to provide courses for sustainable development for students in Uppsala. This produces a joint learning process for everyone involved students and lecturers alike. CEFO Cefo offers doctoral courses that are open for all PhD-students in Sweden. Since Cemus focuses on developing student influence, all Cefo s PhD-courses are developed by- or in close collaboration with our PhD students. Our courses focus on environment and development issues, and are an interdisciplinary complement to the courses given at Uppsala University and SLU. The Baltic University Programme (BUP) Secretariat is a program within CSD Uppsala Being an innovative network by its nature, BUP strives to find the novel ways of interaction among universities and between universities and society, to have strong local and international educational communities. BUP is a network of about 225 universities and other institutes of higher learning throughout the Baltic Sea region. The Program focuses on questions of sustainable development, environmental protection, and democracy in the Baltic Sea region. The aim is to support the key role that universities play in a democratic, peaceful and sustainable development. This is achieved by

4 developing university courses, and by participation in projects in cooperation with authorities, municipalities and others. SWEDESD Swedish International Center of Education for Sustainable Development, SWEDESD is a center at the Faculty of Educational Science at Uppsala University. The center supports capacity building, policy development and research on Education for Sustainable Development, ESD. Our current research focus on transformative learning in informal and formal educational contexts. SWEDESD operates in the context of the UNESCO Global Action Programme, GAP, on ESD and the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP). SWEDESD being part of the RCE Uppsala will be one way of spreading and sharing ESD knowledge and experience in a collaborative way. Uppsala municipality The city of Uppsala is the forth largest in Sweden with over inhabitants with a strong growth. The City of Uppsala has a long term policy for sustainable development adopted by the council. The vision for Uppsala is a municipality that respects and recognizes the equal value, instrict strength and creativity of all o its citizens by allowing each person the opportunity to decide over their own lives in a sustainable environment characterized by forward looking dynamics openness and mutual responsibility. Social environmental and economic issues are important considerations in the effort to achieve sustainable development. With over employees in different sectors the City of Uppsala have a long history and considerable experience of working with sustainable development issues. The city of Uppsala must collaborate with different actors and organizations to reach a sustainable society. Organized collaboration gives a better opportunity to exchange experience and information path for the win of all the citizens of Uppsala. The city of Uppsala is involved in a number of network activities concerning sustainable development and is of the opinion that a RCE can further develop the issues on local regional as well as transnational level. Knivsta municipality The municipality of Knivsta is situated south of Uppsala between Uppsala and Stockholm in the vincity of the international Arlanda airport. The municipality has inhabitants about a half living in the city of Knivsta. We are usually one of the fastest growing, in %, municipalities in Sweden and also has the youngest average age. Main employees are located outside Knivsta in Stockholm and Uppsala. Due to expanding population, both from people moving to Knivsta and because of child birth a number of developments are taking place and new schools and kindergartens are being built and planned for. Knivsta municipality is involved in numerous projects and discussions regarding sustainability and energy related issues on both regional and national level. KUPP Competence Centre Uppsala (KUPP) has been formed to promote and develop Education for Sustainable Development in Uppsala. The network started in the academic year 2014/2015 and during KUPP's first year,we have established a network of contacts among educators and other actors working on Education for Sustainable Development, both within Uppsala and outside. So far we have particularly worked in secondary schools, but the ambition is to expand the network to also include elementary and preschools. KUPP has organized workshops, seminars and lectures on varied topics connected with ESD. The activities have been meeting places for those who have a commitment in these issues within Uppsala Municipality and the network has grown and extended its outreach during the year. KUPP wishes to be an active part in the work of the RCE. By the contacts we have established in schools, universities, Uppsala municipality and other stakeholders, we should both be able to contribute with expertise and experience as well as work as a link for information spreading

5 specifically within the education system, and thus contribute to the reciprocity work on Education for Sustainable Development. RCE objectives and targets The region of Uppsala has been certified as an RCE since Since then the Uppsala network has initiated activities connected to the University of Uppsala the University of Gotland joined Uppsala University and became Uppsalas twelth campus. To benefit from the already existing collaboration between Uppsala and Gotland, RCE Uppsala will apply for the region of Gotland to be part of RCE Uppsala. The new name for the network will be RCE Uppsala - Gotland. The short-term objectives this year includes: To develop a web based RCE information platform and a newsletter for sharing information. Develop the new governance administrative structures were partners rotate in hosting meetings. We will also establish routines for decision-making and a good meeting structure. Establish formal and joint criteria for projects with RCE Uppsala - Gotland status Identify and develop long-term objectives, commitments and corresponding strategies for implementation. Include more members in the SC such as students and NGO:s Initiate new projects within the framework of Uppsala Gotland Long term objectives Identify and obtain internal and external sources for funding of key projects Develop connections to other national and international RCEs Main strategies for the RCE action. Depending on the decision if Gotland will be part of the Uppsala network we will work on good strategies for cooperation between the regions such as digital meetings and map existing collaboration between Uppsala and Gotland. To achieve the short-term objectives, a coordinator was hired in September 2015 to administrate the web-based platform, coordinate meetings and communicate the RCE Uppsala work to internal and external partners. Main results and achievements this year Each actor in the network has contributed with a lot of different activities and projects related to RCE this year. A few of them are listed below: Web based platform was established in June The web page is constantly developed with new up dates and projects. New Vision, mission and governance structure A new vision and mission for RCE Uppsala was established in September The same month the governance and administrative routines for the SC was decided, where a coordinator from CSD Uppsala coordinates RCE Uppsala and call for meetings with the SC 4 times a year. The SC are responsible for decisions, initiations of activities and communicates the RCE Uppsala work. The coordinator administrates the web page, communicates the RCE-work and connects partners within the network.

6 Student-run education CSD Uppsala has 20 years experience of student coordinated higher ESD. These courses and activities have continued to be a space for collaborative learning across disciplines. For a full list of courses see: Meeting with different stakeholders to discuss learning for sustainable futures On September 28 KUPP organized a meeting and lecture day for politicians, educators and officials within Uppsala municipality with 58 participants. The chairman from the municipal council Carl Lindberg, talked about the role of UN, SWEDESD represented by Susanne Zetterblom informed about Global Action Program (GAP), Ilona Szatmari-Waldau spoke about the importance of social sustainable work and the morning session was concluded by Björn Sigurdson who spoke about the climate work in Uppsala. After lunch all participants were divided into smaller groups with the task to reflect on morning sessions information and to come up with suggestions for the continuing work. The seminar day was finalized by seven short lectures about concrete examples of projects on sustainable development from different classrooms that have already been done. Zinaida Fadeeva visits RCE Sweden In October 2015, SWEDESD together with Campus Gotland invited Zinaida Fadeeva, UNU-IAS, and founder of the RCEs to Gotland and Uppsala as a guest researcher. During her stay all Swedish RCEs were invited for a workshop were we lifted challenges and successes and best practices. Among many things it was discussed how to get more informal education in to the RCE networks, funding for joint project ideas, insights what we do in the different RCEs and collaboration between the regions in Sweden. RCE Skåne will invite for a next workshop with all Swedish RCEs. TRUST - Uppsala Transdisciplinary Seminar in Education and Sustainable Development SWEDESD has invited to research seminars at Blåsenhus at 4 occasions. The purpose of TRUST is to increase the internationalisation of sustainable development research, generate new interfaces, research projects and international publications in collaboration with existing actors in the field. Invited are researchers and PhD students who conducts monodisciplinary and various forms of cross disciplinary educational and sustainable development research. Sustainability festival In December 2015, Cemus education, part of CSD Uppsala will organize a sustainability festival with lecturers, workshops, a project fair, film screenings and music. RCE Uppsala will host some of the workshops that will focus on regional challenges and students working on projects in collaboration with different stakeholders in the region. Teacher café Forum för samverkan togheter with the Department of education have organized Teacher café once a month as a meeting place between teachers students and practicing teachers for discussions about professional issues. On November 2 nd the theme for the teacher café will be Education for sustainable development. Framtidsakademin Framtidsakademin is a collaboration between Cemus, part of CSD Uppsala and Folkuniversitetet that offers popular science lectures on issues dealing with environment and sustainable development in a

7 broad perspective. The lecture series that are free and open to all consists of five lectures each semester. This semester the theme for the lecture series was Boundaries. What is the role of boundaries in society and on the planet where we live? Is sustainability to respect boundaries, or to try to erase them? We look clooser at some borders, what they mean and why they are there. What does research say about our views on the boundaries of equality, intolerance, prejudice, climate change and food?