ABSTRACT
If the purpose of higher education is a matter for debate, the meaning of ‘sustainDEOHGHYHORSPHQW¶LVHYHQPRUHVR$ODUJHQXPEHURISURSRVHGGH¿QLWLRQVH[LVW each having in common the basic premise that, on a global scale, the present is beLQJPDQDJHGZLWKLQVXI¿FLHQWUHJDUGIRUWKHIXWXUH'LIIHUHQWGH¿QLWLRQVFRPELQH concerns about perceived environmental, social and economic problems in different ways, sometimes also adding other frames of reference as well – the cultural, IRU H[DPSOH 3DUWLFXODU GH¿QLWLRQV DUH RIWHQ OLQNHG ORRVHO\ RU TXLWH WLJKWO\ WR particular disciplinary perspectives or particular socio-economic practices. This is to say that, for example, biologists and economists are likely to give the term different emphases, and so are engineers and health sector procurement managers. ,QUHODWLRQWRDQ\VRUWRIGHOLEHUDWHDFWLRQGH¿QLWLRQVRIVXVWDLQDEOHGHYHORS-
ment may result in (or alternatively be favoured because they lend themselves to) a focus at a particular temporal and/or geographical scale. So, for example, sustainable development results may be required immediately, in 5-10 years, or in 50 years; and in terms of anything from (again, for example) increases in the volume of locally produced goods traded within a rich-country locality to increases in the value of internationally traded goods from poor countries to rich ones. We should note in passing that:
‡ :KDWLVUHTXLUHGIRUTXLFNUHVXOWVPD\EHDWRGGVZLWKORQJHUWHUPLQGLFDWLRQV DQGIRUVRPHRI WKHSUREOHPVLGHQWL¿HGZLWKLQ WKHVXVWDLQDELOLW\GLVFRXUVH (global warming, intergenerational poverty, depletion of non-renewable resources, for example), even 50 years, although an eternity in policy terms, is really not long at all.
