Higher education institutions are uniquely positioned to lead on societal responses to climate change. They are key sites of knowledge production, innovation and the formation of future professionals equipped for successfully operating in a world rapidly altered by climate and ecological change. But despite ever-increasing recognition and pockets of good practice, attempts to embed climate change education within the university community continues to be fragmented. Many institutions still consider climate-related learning the preserve of particular disciplines — environmental science, geography, engineering — rather than a foundational literacy applicable to all students, regardless of their field of study. At the same time, a gap between climate knowledge and transformative action remains, in curricula as well as the academic community’s relationship to the communities it serves.
There is a perceived need for a specialist event to discuss how best to include climate change issues and their social justice implications as part of university programmes. The symposium ‘From Knowledge to Action: Transforming Higher Education for Climate Resilience’ is thus conceived as a platform to move from discussing the climate crisis in theoretical terms to implementing actionable, collaborative, and innovative solutions.
The need for the Symposium
Manchester, with its industrial past and commitment to becoming a zero-carbon city by 2038, and with its density of major higher education institutions, is a perfect location in which to have a conversation on climate change and higher education. The universities in the city are already involved in important sustainability research and campus operations initiatives. But the pedagogical dimension – how we teach, what we teach, and who we teach – has not consistently been given sustained attention. It is important to go beyond the modular, optional focus on climate literacy, resilience thinking and action competence as electives to the more systematic curriculum reform that we need in all disciplines.
Many educators say they feel ill-prepared to engage with issues related to climate; yet students are increasingly demanding that it should be a priority to teach them about the defining crisis of their generation, and community partners have asked for meaningful collaborations that will go above and beyond symbolic consultation. The Symposium ‘From Knowledge to Action: Transforming Higher Education for Climate Resilience’ seeks to meet a wide range of these overlapping requirements head on.