Dear colleagues and friends,
Three new Members join ProSPER.Net
During the ProSPER.Net Board Meeting and General Assembly on 11 July, 2016, the community welcomed three new members to the network, namely Institut Technologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). This brings the total number of ProSPER.Net members to 37.
Institut Technologi Bandung (ITB) or Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia is the oldest technology-oriented university in Indonesia and has strong international links in the area of ESD for example in Disaster Risk Reduction. The institute’s fields of Engineering and IT are particularly known globally and in the Asia Pacific region.
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) or Indonesia University of Education already has a curriculum in place to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs. The university has strong cooperation with other institutes and a historically having strong and integrated ESD concept.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) or University of Technology Malaysia has a number of faculties that incorporate ESD in their curricula, for example the Civil Engineering Department. Further, they offer a Master of Science Degree in Sustainable Systems and have strong links to Japanese universities.
New ProSPER.Net Board, Board Chair and Vice Chair
At the same time, Keio University and Vietnam National University (VNU) - HCMC replaced Hosei University and University of the South Pacific as Members of the Board. The remaining Board Members were re-elected for another term of two years. Prof. Norichika Kanie from Keio University was elected as Board Chair for a term of two years, replacing Prof. Yuji Suzuki from Hosei University. Prof. Sivanappan Kumar from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) was appointed as Vice Chair. ProSPER.Net and all members wished to thank Prof. Suzuki for his long-standing commitment to the network and his work as Board Chair. Prof. Suzuki and Prof. Tony Dalton, Vice Chair of the Board, were both valuable members of the Board and they will hopefully remain active in ProSPER.Net over the coming years.
ProSPER.Net Forum: Higher Education as a mechanism to achieve the SDGs
The Forum on “Higher Education and the SDGs” highlighted how ProSPER.Net as a network and its projects help reach the targets set forth in the SDGs. During the discussions, the panel agreed that universities should focus on modelling best practices, connect more with communities outside their campus, and emphasize collaboration rather than competition. Read more
ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme highlights local sustainable challenges and solutions in Malaysia
Over eight days, the intensive programme saw leaders discuss the following topics: housing and urban poverty, promotion of small scale tourism through homestays, domestic waste management, eco-tourism, and flood disaster management. Participants worked on one of these five topics, received important lectures from experts, and interacted with local stakeholders and communities through either multi-stakeholder discussions or field activities. The students were faced directly with the challenges of each community. They learned about the community’s hopes for change, and how some of these challenges had been tackled. More importantly they were able to identify which problems remained unresolved and discuss potential solutions. Read more
Sincerely,
ProSPER.Net
