Dear Sir/Madam,

The German Commission for UNESCO and the University of Lüneburg’s Institute for Environmental Communication cordially invite you to the inauguration of the UNESCO Chair in “Higher Education for Sustainable Development”, which is to take place as part of an international academic conference, running from
25th – 27th September at the University of Lüneburg. The Conference is an important part of Germany’s contribution to the United Nations’ World Decade of “Education for Sustainable Development” (2005-2014). The aim of the Decade is to make sustainability a key element in educational processes – including higher education.

The Institute for Environmental Communication at the University of Lüneburg will this year be awarded the UNESCO Chair in “Higher Education for Sustainable Development”. The UNESCO Chair Programme was initiated in 1991, in order to promote international cooperation in higher education and to integrate UNESCO’s objectives into research and teaching. A major part of this programme has been an emphasis on bringing higher education institutions from the South into an international network. At the Conference, the University of Lüneburg’s Institute for Environmental Communication aims to focus on this idea of an international network, and strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions on issues involving higher education and sustainability.
Within the scope of the Conference “Higher Education for Sustainable Development: New Challenges from a Global Perspective”, current problems and experiences arising in the context of academic discourse on education for sustainable development are to be discussed and developed. The central focus of the Conference is to include issues surrounding teaching in higher education, the production of knowledge and intercultural teaching and learning. We would be delighted if you would be able to make a contribution to the Conference on your area of expertise.

All institutions which follow principles or programmes aiming to integrate sustainability into higher education teaching are invited to present their experiences and research results on the theme. Presentations should be focused on one of the following areas:

1. Sustainability in Learning and Teaching
Getting the theme of sustainability across brings new challenges for teaching and learning. Promoting key skills is the central issue in this area. New, participatory forms of teaching, such as team teaching with an increased component of project work, are as much in demand as new methods. New Media, in the form of virtual learning environments, E-learning or blended-learning approaches, have taken on a particular importance.

2. Production and Transfer of New Knowledge
In a constantly changing world, higher education institutions are taking on an important role in the production and transfer of new knowledge. This requires inter- and transdisciplinary teaching and research methods, alongside a search for new strategies and alliances with non-academic cooperation partners.

3. Intercultural and Global Learning
Higher Education for Sustainable Development does not only require new methods and forms of learning, but the content itself also requires reorientation and a comprehensive change of perspective. Sustainable solutions for the ever more complex problems of today’s world call for cooperation and exchange between industrial countries and the countries of the Southern Hemisphere. Intercultural and global approaches play a central role in this respect, as do aspects of “Managing Diversity”.

Workshops taking place in parallel are to bring out as many examples of education for sustainable development as possible, in short presentations, in order to provide a forum allowing participants to learn intensively from each other and with each other. Experiencing ‘best practice’ and learning ‘best practice’ is to be the motto of this Conference. The results of the Conference shall be documented and go towards an English-language publication. On the basis of the Conference, an international network is to be set up, under the name HES – Higher Education for Sustainability.

We therefore invite you to make a contribution on one of the three workshop themes, thus playing a part in the success of the Conference and participating in the planned Network. We would be grateful if you would be able to respond by the 20th July 2005, stating whether you are to take part in the Conference, and send us a short abstract (max. 150 words) of your contribution to one of the Workshops (michelsen@uni-lueneburg.de). If you make a presentation to the conference, we shall reimburse your travel costs (a cheap flight) and take care of your accommodation and board during the Conference.
We would be delighted to receive a positive response to our invitation.
Yours faithfully,

Dr. Roland Bernecker
General Secretary of the German UNESCO Commission

Prof. Dr. Gerd Michelsen
Head of the Institute for Environmental Communication at the University of Lüneburg