A few interesting developments bubbling up from our world of knowledge democracy...

Multiworld and Albukhary International University Hosting Higher Education, Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability Conference, October 5 and 6, Malaysia

The International Conference on “University Leadership for Integrating Knowledge Diversity for Sustainability” scheduled for October 2012 is taking place at a most turbulent time in the lives of universities and higher education.

Several universities have been seriously considering disassociating themselves progressively from decades-long dependence on imported Western academic frameworks and to replace these with more productive interactions with diverse knowledge traditions including local or indigenous knowledge available within local, regional and national arenas. In contrast with Western knowledge frameworks, local knowledge systems carry inbuilt sustainability features.

At the global level, despite numerous declarations and initiatives to formulate and implement more just, resilient, environmentally sustainable policies, change has come slowly, in fact too slowly, for the planet.

Post Rio+20, higher education (HE) was to play a more critical leadership role in the changing intellectual landscape especially in the effort to redefine the paradigm of knowledge and learning at least at the institutional level and bring this in line with sustainability directives.

However, the HE system is not finding it easy to transform itself to meet the requirements of the new construct required with a clear change in purpose. The challenges expected include the extensive reorganisation and transformation of knowledge to enable universities to allow for a more integrated approach to address urgent and serious global issues and overall strengthening of the capacity of social science to generate socially useful, culturally harmonious and relevant knowledge and information.  Hence the proposed October Conference.

The new approach which the October Conference seeks to host proposes to cut across conventional knowledge disciplines and is encompassed within a holistic framework which includes careful study, revalidation and use of thousands of non-western technologies, values and wisdom that have been generated in diverse, local, national and regional contexts.

Canadian Alert

Science Shop/Research Shop School: A workshop to build mechanisms for community-university research engagement 

University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

October 22 (8:30 to 4:00) & 23 (8:30 to 2:00), 2012, 

http://www.theresearchshop.ca/SRSworkshop

Great Chance to meet Henk Mulder and Norbert Steinhaus, leaders of the European based Living Knowledge Network- Great communicators and very knowledgeable folks.

International Education: A Key Driver of Canada’s Future Prosperity(see abstract below)

In a knowledge-driven economy, Canada needs to educate highly qualified and skilled people who can then take their place among the best and the brightest in the world. The internationalization of Canada’s education and research institutions through international partnerships and exchange of talent is thus of substantial importance to supporting Canada’s science and technology (S & T) and innovation agendas. We view internationalization—the process of bringing an international dimension into the teaching, research and service activities of Canadian institutions—as the first benefit to Canada.ⁱ

Second, international education allows current and future generations of Canadians to acquire a global perspective, thus helping them to become citizens of the world who can contribute to the “diplomacy of knowledge”.ⁱⁱ In an increasingly integrated world, and in light of Canada’s own growing engagement in trade/investment and geopolitical affairs, providing Canadian students with a global perspective is of great strategic importance.