Parallel Session B
"Knowledge Innovation towards Global Sustainability and Education" (3)

11. President Eiji Hatta, Doshisha University, introduced the “Students G8 Summit of Sustainability”’s outcome, the principle of three C’s: conserve, create and collaborate as an enabler of international students networking.

During the open discussions the following points were raised:

• Sustainability should be discussed along with poverty alleviation.
• Education to global sustainability should start ahead of students entering university.
• Engagement of universities with public authorities should be encouraged to the benefit of local communities.
• Adoption by universities of international frameworks to overcome administrative barriers in students and staff’s mobility. This is the only way to get internationalization process work.
• Tyranny of content in current educational systems should be limited. An example comes from British Columbia that has taken a specific initiative based on new technologies for undergraduate education.
• Service learning, which includes students working in the communities, may indeed have an effect on leadership education. Examples were given from Imperial College, Politecnico di Torino, Tsinghua and Waseda University. Special joint summer school with automotive industries in Japan tailored for international students were also mentioned.
• Qualities expected from leaders should be defined and cleared.
• Teaching to students is not the only area that universities can work on sustainability, but is an important one.

Outcomes of the session
Looking forward “2009 G8 Summit of Universities” it’s important to engage participants universities into a virtual network of information exchange (perhaps based on the architecture in place at University of British Columbia) that should assess:

• the values of multidisciplinary approach
  (including a rethinking of curricula and education to ethics, market and social needs);
• the issue of internationalization of universities
  (including students and staff’s mobility);
• the economical environment
  (that may change significantly impacting actual way of life, both in rich and poor countries);

A final suggestion was made to the opportunity of merging the “G8 of Universities “ with the “G8 of Scientific Research” to strengthen one the underlying missions of universities that is to create, spill-over and disseminate knowledge.