The making of ‘humaniversity’
Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Learning Curve: Perspective
New Sunday Times - 12-02-2012
Incorporating sustainability into universitites
SALZBURG, Austria at minus 17°C is perhaps the most unlikely place where a think tank would meet to discuss sustainability issues. But this was the case when 20 invited participants the world over gathered to envision the setting up of the Sustainable Futures Leadership Academy.
The goal of the academy is to advance the capabilities of senior higher education leaders in incorporating sustainability into the core business of their institutions, be it in teaching, research, operations or community outreach.
It is envisaged that tertiary education can play a vital role in moving the sustainability agenda to the forefront at the theoretical, philosophical and practical level.
Sustainable Futures Academy (the main organiser of The Salzburg Global Seminar) in collaboration with global partners led the sharing of experiences. The organisers observed that “bringing leaders from different sectors, countries, cultures and experiences together will always have a positive effect”.
Being one of two invitees from Asia — the other a Korean — I am indeed privileged to enumerate the journey that we took in 2005 in framing “sustainability” as the future scenario of tertiary education.
All this is put in the context of humanity since human activities are the most destructive forces that threaten life on Earth. Climate change and global warming are mere signs that much has gone wrong in the way human beings conduct their affairs; indeed their education system as a whole.
The sub-zero temperatures in Salzburg and many other parts of Europe are timely reminders of the state of affairs today.
A picture of an ice-covered car at the waterside promenade of Lake Geneva in Switzerland in particular tells the story.
At the end of it all, however, it is about the loss of lives in the hundreds.
The elderly, homeless and the poor were the worst hit. Here is where humanity itself ends up as a victim of its own callousness!
It is no coincidence that during my inaugural address at Albukhary International University, I elaborated on the idea of “humaniversity”.
The idea was introduced early last year at my alma mater under the title, Humaniversity: Transformation Towards Humanising The University.
The aim is to deconstruct the current factory-like metaphor that traps the university in a materialist “me first” ethos as the basis for defining so-called “success” or “excellence”.
Interestingly, in Andrew Rosen’s recent book, Change.edu: Rebooting For The New Talent Economy, the author uses “nightclub” as a comparison instead.
He wrote: “Under the existing rules of higher education, a college is defined as ‘better’ by turning away more potential students — no different than a nightclub that’s ‘hot’ because its system of bouncers and velvet ropes leaves a critical mass of people on the outside, noses pressed to the glass.”
To be sure, the choice of the word “rebooting” in the title of the book already conveys the lifeless mechanistic world view of describing higher education — lacking in human dimensions as it were.
So what good is “better” or “hot” in a system that dehumanises? What then is the meaning of “success” or “excellence” in this context?
Under pressure to scramble for prestige based on the “me first” ethos, tertiary education leaders have lost sight of the larger issue of humanity as the ultimate goal and beneficiary.
The so-called mainstream sustainability cannot work when the system and leadership are not conducive.
A human-like metaphor is very compelling and urgent because the university can no longer operate in a mechanistic way without creating more chaos.
Unless, of course, students are willing to be relegated to mere “customers” to be trained (not educated) as human capital (not human beings) to serve as cogs in a gigantic machine for material production.
Very often, the material (read financial) imperatives are the main reasons for the persistent confusion over the purpose of education as a public good. This further complicates the situation when students are burdened with debt, eventually making the university unsustainable as an institution.
It is only when universities are able to embrace the challenges that uplift humanity in a sustainable way that they will have a fighting chance to be relevant in the future.
As we discovered in Salzburg, there is profound neglect in pushing “sustainability” in a humanitarian direction, more so to create the much needed multiplier effect on existing leadership mindset in humanising the university.
Unless this is urgently done, the prospect for the future is as chilling as the days of sub-zero Salzburg!
- The writer is vice chancellor of Albukhary International University