Int. Conference on Improving University Teaching 2025

Redefining Education:

Navigating Sustainability and Innovation in a VUCA World

In a world increasingly subject to volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) the goal of sustainability is aspirational, yet elusive.  A UN report published in 2024 notes that “intensifying, interconnected challenges continue to endanger the realization” of the seventeen sustainable development goals identified by the UN Sustainability Conference twelve years ago in Rio de Janeiro.  This is especially true in education, which the report correctly terms “the bedrock of sustainable development.”   It notes the negative effects of the COVID epidemic, regional conflicts, climate shock, and economic turmoil and paints a picture of a planet struggling to make progress towards them. While the big picture may be less than perfect, there is still much cause for hope, as we strive towards a better future.

Against this backdrop, the International Conference on Improving University Teaching seeks to address the challenge of sustainability, equity, and innovation as they affect higher education. In particular, we are exploring how to prepare students for a “VUCA world” in which they will have to contend with multiple challenges, while at the same time ensuring their wellbeing—and that of all academic staff—in the present. By definition, a future subject to uncertainty and ambiguity will require flexibility and adaptability on the part of students. ..

Continued ...

Previously: IUT, VUCA