ABSTRACT
This chapter develops further the argument that compassionate education is a perspective, a way of seeing the world that places love in action at the heart of everything we do and is predicated upon a vision and narrative that elevates collaboration above competition, and service above self-interest. This is the golden thread that should be part of the warp and weft of university life, which both values and promotes higher education systems that teach and research compassion, teach with compassion, and encourage collaboration at all levels.
It is underpinned by the compassionate knowledge, skills, and attitudes required by students of all ages if they are to survive in this increasingly hostile world. The chapter takes a firm view that compassion for the planet is essential in order to reverse climate change and species extinction. What is taught at university, how it is taught, and how students are prepared to survive in the current hostile environment are key to creating compassionate leaders and a world that values collaboration and service over neoliberal values of self-interest. This entails a shift in thinking from ‘me’ to ‘we’, and the chapter provides tools and a typology of compassion that individuals and institutions can use to begin, or to continue, this shift in thinking in order to become compassionate universities with global impact.
