1. Organisational perspectives from a higher education institute and challenges of assessing UN activities at the community level Dzulkifli Abdul Razak,
A UNU Regional Centre of Expertise on
Education for Sustainable Development
since 2006
Designated by
Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
Evaluation and Assessment of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): Challenges and Opportunities, Nov. 22, 2010, Barcelona

2. Consultation on Alternative University Appraisal System

3. About AUA: Project Outline
Core members:

4. About AUA: Mission Statement
The AUA system seeks to facilitate and encourage institutions of higher education to engage in education and research for sustainable development, and to raise the quality and impact of such activities by providing benchmarking tools that support the diversity of missions as well as offering a framework of sharing good practices and facilitating and self-reflection.

5. Three Steps to Reach Our Goals

6. AUA: is to create a
Learning Community
Why?

7. Main activities since April 2009
On Nov. 10, 2010: 5th core group meeting* to refine the questionnaires
Presented to at least 5 international conference for feedback & consultation
Questionnaires piloted to 4 core members
Pilot peer consultation done to one university
Next meeting: Seoul, Korea on December 10-11 *

8. Main areas of focus
Self-reflection (questionnaires) – documentation and sharing of good practices (qualitative appraisal)
Benchmarking – quantitative appraisal
Peer consultation – learning community

9. What next?
To carry out a pilot to about 20 universities in Malaysia and 5 others in the region – expected outcome by June 2011
To archive the good ESD practices extracted from the questionnaires
To expand pilot peer consultation to other universities

10. International Acceptance
Communiqué of global dialogue on North- South Cooperation in Community-University Engagement on September 23, 2010

11. Enhancing North- South Cooperation in Community-University Engagement
The Communiqué

13. Eg: Governance
Is “campus sustainability” an element of your university’s strategic plan? If so, how?
What action plans & policies are in place for the implementation of strategies for “campus sustainability?” How is progress monitored and assessed?

14. Eg: Education
What mechanisms does your institution have to ensure that students gain an understanding of sustainable development?
How does your university offer opportunities to network with external sustainable development institutions for educational purposes?

15. Eg: Outreach & Transformation
Does your university provide learning opportunities on campus sustainability for the community?
Does your university have mechanisms in place to encourage and foster innovation for campus sustainability?

16. Eg: Research & Consultancy
Please describe any social impact of your university’s research in “campus sustainability”.
Version 1.0 (March 2010)

17. We look forward to your opinions on the AUA Model in terms of the
following items.
1. Approach to the AUA Model
A. What is your opinion on conducting self-assessment by narrowing down the scope to a single theme (or multiple themes)?
2. Composition of Self-Awareness Questions
A. Do self-awareness questions offer an appropriate framework for understanding university activities?
B. Do the groups of questions cover university activities sufficiently?
3. Ease of Using Self-Awareness Questions
A. Can you easily understand the point of each question?
B. Are the number of questions and the work volume required to answer them appropriate?
C. Are the answer styles appropriate?
4. Handling of Self-Assessment Results
A. Are scoring and grading techniques such as marking, rating and university rankings appropriate?
5. Overall Approach to the AUA System
A. Do you have any ideas for the realization of substantial peer- consultation?
B. Do you have any ideas for the continued expansion of the learning community?