Universiti Sains Malaysia, Sustainability and the Struggle for a Vital Centre in Education (Penerbit USM)


Book Description

The agenda of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) aims to engage the problems of values and ethics in the context of knowledge production and teaching in universities. The essential argument of this monograph is the USM's educational philosophy is founded in an effort to overcome the problems of mental captivity and the degradation of values that accompanies neo-liberal influences on higher education. In this sense, USM is seeking to re-imbue the soul of higher education by articulating a normative 'vital centre' to the mission of USM. This normatively-based vital centre based on cultural respect, sustainability, and commitment to the bottom billions is the critical touchstone for reforming pedagogical practice in USM. Educational change is fundamentally based on the principles of social responsibility and inclusiveness. The USM agenda is fundamentally an effort to realize these values through educational transformation. Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia




Sustaining APEX: Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Mission to Transform Higher Education (Penerbit USM)


Book Description

The monograph ‘Sustaining APEX: Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Mission to Transform Higher Education’ seeks to expand on and elaborate themes found in the previous two monographs in our Intellectual Discourse Series. In this monograph, we also take a deeper look at the problems of values and national development as well as issues of legitimacy and the efficacy of change and transformation in conditions of complex globalization. This monograph seeks to engage the difficult issues around science and technology and values, the social legitimacy of reform, and addresses the issues of newness, reputation, ranking and the problems of leadership. In doing this, we hope to tease out more of the implications of USM’s reform agenda and locate discussions of it within a broader discourse of globalization and its vicissitudes. The essential argument made in this monograph is that USM’s transformation agenda is a direct challenge to contemporary neo-liberal project for higher education. USM’s agenda entails a fuller idea and engagement with the educational and ethical mission of the university. Ecological sustainability, scientific and technological advancement as well as the sustainability of Malaysian culture, values, and sense of social justice is central to the mission of USM. Seeking to advance these in the current conditions of globalization and ensuring continued legitimacy for this project within such an environment is the challenge ahead. Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia




Repositioning Malaysian Foreign Policy (Penerbit USM)


Book Description

This book attempts to put into context Malaysian Foreign Policy since Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak came into office. Many of the changes that have been instituted could be regarded as engaging diplomacy with innovation in such issues as culture, networks, and globalization. In the forefront are the new diplomatic initiatives as the articulation of the New Economic Model, the APEX University in Malaysian higher education, and the ‘One Malaysia’ programme and its impact on the people. Taken together, they represent a noticeable shift in emphasis with the need to combine the domestic dictates of policy and the translation of Malaysia’s larger interests externally. Issues are discussed and analyzed within a historical and future perspective without sidelining the traditional concerns of Malaysian Foreign Policy: The centrality of ASEAN, the need for foreign direct investment, and engagement with the world. The book, therefore, serves a wide readership deeply interested in keeping up with the pace of reforms within the country’s foreign policy and public diplomacy.







Urban Crisis


Book Description

Unprecedented urban growth makes sustainability in cities a crucial issue for policy makers, scholars and business leaders. This emerging urban crisis challenges environment-based and economic-based approaches to sustainability, and highlights the complex and critical role that culture plays in ensuring that cities are viable for future generations. This publication assesses the use of cultural indicators as a tool for policymakers, drawing on case studies of Patan (Nepal), Penang (Malaysia), Cheongju (South Korea), and Kanazawa (Japan), and offers fresh insights into the role of culture in fostering community development, environmental awareness and balanced economic growth.




Handbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education


Book Description

This Handbook approaches sustainable development in higher education from an integrated perspective, addressing the dearth of publications on the subject. It offers a unique overview of what universities around the world are doing to implement sustainable development (i.e. via curriculum innovation, research, activities, or practical projects) and how their efforts relate to education for sustainable development at the university level. The Handbook gathers a wealth of information, ideas, best practices and lessons learned in the context of executing concrete projects, and assesses methodological approaches to integrating the topic of sustainable development in university curricula. Lastly, it documents and disseminates the veritable treasure trove of practical experience currently available on sustainability in higher education.




Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development


Book Description

This book fills an important gap in the literature, and presents contributions from scientists and researchers working in the field of sustainable development who have engaged in dynamic approaches to implementing sustainability in higher education. It is widely known that universities are key players in terms of the implementation and further development of sustainability, with some having the potential of acting as “living labs” in this rapidly growing field. Yet there are virtually no publications that explore the living labs concept as it relates to sustainability, and in an integrated manner. The aims of this book, which is an outcome of the “4th World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities” (WSSD-U-2018), held in Malaysia in 2018, are as follows: i. to document the experiences of universities from all around the world in curriculum innovation, research, activities and practical projects as they relate to sustainable development at the university level; ii. to disseminate information, ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of projects, including successful initiatives and good practice; iii. to introduce and discuss methodological approaches and projects that seek to integrate the topic of sustainable development in the curricula of universities; and iv. to promote the scalability of existing and future models from universities as living labs for sustainable development. The papers are innovative, cross-cutting and many reflect practice-based experiences, some of which may be replicable elsewhere. Also, this book, prepared by the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and the World Sustainable Development Research and Transfer Centre (WSD-RTC), reinforces the role played by universities as living labs for sustainable development.




The Changing Academic Profession


Book Description

This book provides an overview on the major findings of a questionnaire survey of academic profession in international perspective. More than 25,000 professors and junior staff at universities and other institutions of higher education at almost 20 countries from all over the world provide information on their working situation, their views and activities. The study “The Changing Academic Profession” is the second major study of its kind, and changes of views and activities are presented through a comparison of the findings with those of the earlier study undertaken in the early 1990s. Major themes are the academics’ perception of their societal and institutional environments, the views on the major tasks of teaching, research and services, their professional preferences and actual activities, their career, their perceived influence and their overall job satisfaction. Emphasis is placed on the influence of recent changes in higher education: the internationalisation and globalisation, the increasing expectation to provide evidence of the relevance of academic work, and finally the growing power of management at higher education institutions. Overall, the academics surveyed show that worldwide discourses and trends in higher education put their mark on the academic profession, but differences by country continue to be noteworthy. Academics consider themselves to be more strongly exposed to mechanism of regulations, incentives and sanctions as well as various assessments than in the past; yet their own freedom, and responsibilities and influence shape their identity more strongly and are reflected in widespread professional satisfaction.




Footprints of War


Book Description

When American forces arrived in Vietnam, they found themselves embedded in historic village and frontier spaces already shaped by many past conflicts. American bases and bombing targets followed spatial and political logics influenced by the footprints of past wars in central Vietnam. The militarized landscapes here, like many in the world�s historic conflict zones, continue to shape post-war land-use politics. Footprints of War traces the long history of conflict-produced spaces in Vietnam, beginning with early modern wars and the French colonial invasion in 1885 and continuing through the collapse of the Saigon government in 1975. The result is a richly textured history of militarized landscapes that reveals the spatial logic of key battles such as the Tet Offensive. Drawing on extensive archival work and years of interviews and fieldwork in the hills and villages around the city of Hue to illuminate war�s footprints, David Biggs also integrates historical Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data, using aerial, high-altitude, and satellite imagery to render otherwise placeless sites into living, multidimensional spaces. This personal and multilayered approach yields an innovative history of the lasting traces of war in Vietnam and a model for understanding other militarized landscapes.




From Sources to Solution


Book Description

Featuring the theme, From Sources to Solution, this book is based on the research papers presented during the International Conference on Environmental Forensics 2013. It covers multi-disciplinary areas of environmental forensics featuring major themes: characterization, assessment, and monitoring; new approach, rapid assessment, and analytical techniques; pollution control technology; environmental health risk assessment; and policy, governance and management. It present information for researchers from the science and social sciences disciplines and contribute to the advancement of Environmental Forensics. It also aims at evaluating the environmental damages as the result of indiscriminating discharge of toxic environmental pollutants.