cover, inter alia, musicology, music therapy, Sri Lankan, Indian, and Chinese music, disability studies, Buddhist art, Sri Lankan folk music and drama, intangible cultural heritage, epigraphical poetry, and expressive arts.
G. R. Sinha is Adjunct Professor at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) and is currently deputed as Professor at Myanmar Institute of Information Technology (MIIT), Mandalay. He was Visiting Professor (Honorary) in the Sri Lanka Technological Campus Colombo during 2019–2020 and at the University of Sannio, Italy, during September 2020–March 2021. He has published 277 research papers, book chapters, and books at international level and is Associate Editor of five SCI/Scopus indexed journals. He has 23 years' teaching and research experience and has been delivering Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) lectures as ACM Distinguished Speaker in the field of digital signal processing since 2017. He has delivered more than 50 keynote/invited talks and chaired many technical sessions in international conferences. He has also been an Expert Member of the Professor Promotion Committee of the German‐Jordanian University in Jordan. His research interestsincludes cognitive science, computer vision, outcome‐based education, and information and communications technology tools for developing employability skills.
Roberta Štěpánková is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Landscape Architecture, at the Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, SUA in Nitra, Slovakia. In addition to activities related to pedagogical activities for landscape engineering and architecture study programs, her main activities include research and collaboration on several projects focused on architectural and urban development and the renewal of settlement (mainly rural spaces) and public spaces. The main topic of her research is oriented to the historical heritage of SUA in Nitra, and architecturally valuable objects. She is the author and co‐author of a scientific monograph, university textbooks, and scientific and professional works, with more than 60 citations in the WOS and SCOPUS databases.
Andrej Tarnik is researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. He finished his PhD in 2015 and is a studentss advisor, helpsing students with setting up proper study plans. His topics are related to hydrology and hydropedology. He is responsible for the practical course of Hydropedology for students of the Landscape Engineering study program. His research is focused on the dynamics of soil moisture changes, spatial and temporal variability of soil water storage, and climate change impact on soil moisture. He is author or co‐author of several scientific papers published in indexed journals (CC, WoS, SCOPUS).
Luis Velazquez is a senior sustainability researcher with over 30 years' experience as an industrial engineer. He holds a doctoral degree in Engineering Science with a major in Cleaner Production and Pollution Prevention from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Dr. Velazquez has led curriculum design in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs. In addition, he has been a sustainability research intern at several higher education institutions, such as the Center for Health and the Global Environment of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, in the US; the Universidade Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and the University of Applied Sciences in Zittau/Gorlitz, Germany.
Abdul Hannan Waheed was educated in Kuwait, Egypt, UK, India, and Australia, and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Maldives Qualifications Authority (MQA). Dr. Hannan is a renowned expert in multiple fields. He has worked in the field of higher education quality assurance since 2004 and holds a PhD in this field from the Queensland University of Technology, and has been instrumental in the development and strengthening of higher education quality assurance in the Maldives. He is a multilingual (Dhivehi, English, Arabic) language expert and is a Chartered Linguist and Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, UK. He is a current affairs analyst on a live weekly TV program called Dhuniye (World) on VTV. He is also a talented Arabic calligrapher.
Sakunthala Yatigammana is a professor in the Department of Education in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Peradeniya. Sakunthala received her PhD from the Graduate School of Education, The University of Bristol, UK in 2011 and MSc from the Postgraduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya. She is involved in a number of European and Canadian funded projects as a co‐investigator. Further, she has published more than 30 papers in journals and conferences and has also co‐authored five books. Her current research interest focuses on the use of mobile phones for science teaching and learning, Educational Technology, Pedagogy, Inclusive Education and Comparative Education
Mengting Yu is a PhD student in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, UK. She holds a master's degree in Educational Research from the University of Glasgow, UK, and an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Tianjin University of Technology (TJUT), China. She worked as a language teacher and overseas educational consultant in Beijing from 2015 to 2019. Such enriched working experiences have provided her with a broad view of research interests, including higher education, digital learning, language education, interdisciplinary and technological pedagogies, and innovation in education. Her present study focuses on how technology‐supported classrooms, together with the trend to move from traditional teaching to student‐centered teaching methodologies, impact the learning experiences of international students.
David Slim Zepeda Quintana is a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Sonora, Mexico where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the field of sustainable development and where he is a full‐time researcher in the Sustainability Graduate Program. He holds a BSc in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Universidad del Valle de Mexico and a master's degree in Sustainability from the University of Sonora. His major research and teaching interests are sustainable development, sustainable management systems, sustainability in higher education, cleaner production, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable innovation.
1 Sustainable Development: Embedding Sustainability in Higher Education
Kelum A. A. Gamage and Erandika K. de Silva
1.1 Introduction
The concept of “sustainable development” has become far‐reaching due to the major breakthrough in efforts toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2015. Following the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, a global framework was developed to “redirect humanity towards a sustainable path.” This global framework is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that is centered around 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that branched out from the previous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agenda.
The SDGs describe major development challenges faced by humans universally. Consequently, SDGs are considered “challenges for humanity” giving them a sense of urgency in both international and national agendas. UN SDGs emerged with the aim of securing “a sustainable, peaceful, prosperous and equitable life on earth for everyone now and in the future” (UNESCO 2017). As SDGs cover global challenges that need to be overcome for the survival of humanity, they establish “environmental limits and set critical thresholds for the use of natural resources” (UNESCO 2017).
Poverty and associated challenges such as the lack of access to education, healthcare and sanitation, employment opportunities, and social protection are detrimental to human lives and human dignity. UN SDGs are based on the basic premise, that ending poverty, requires strategies that develop economies. Economic development, therefore, is understood and realized alongside a range of social needs that include education, health, social protection, and employment opportunities simultaneously with climate change and environmental protection. Inequality, unsustainable consumption patterns, weak institutional capacity and environmental degradation are identified as the key systemic barriers to sustainable development.
For the realization of the long‐term goals put forward as SDGs, the active involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society, and all of humanity is needed.