How to Mend a University: Towards a Sustainable Learning Environment In Higher Education

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The contemporary literature on higher education tells a story of a system that is widely perceived to be broken. Students are sceptical of the system that they are increasingly asked to pay into, and staff are disillusioned by rampant managerialism, or burnt out. There is an alternative view that is emerging in the literature, that of the ecological university. This book builds on established ecological models that can be applied to social systems, particularly the adaptive cycle. It links these ideas to key theoretical stances from across the educational literature to create an epistemological consilience across the divide between structuralist-poststructuralist educational research literatures. It is written with a consideration of the practical moves that can be undertaken within an institution to develop a healthier environment in which sustainable pedagogies can be nurtured. Kinchin argues that the ecological university may be seen as a way to mend the current system so institutions can justify the use of popular terms like sustainability, inclusivity and wellbeing in an ecologically authentic and demonstrable way. The book includes a Foreword written by Martyn Kingsbury, Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship, Imperial College London, UK.

Author Bio

Ian M. Kinchin is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education in the Surrey Institute of Education at the University of Surrey, UK.