Higher Education in a Sustainable Society ― A Case for Mutual Competence Building

This book addresses the following question: What is a sustainable society, and how can higher education help us to develop toward it? The core argument put forward is that the concept of sustainability reaches much farther than just the direct aspects of environmental threats and carbon emissions. Using higher education as a point of departure, the book shows that sustainability involves a broad range of disciplines, from nursing and nutrition to technology and management. It argues that a sustainable society entails a distinct perspective on society that influences our social thinking in terms of ethics, democracy and knowledge development. The book also discusses if (and if so, how) higher education can and should contribute to such a development based on the principles of the freedom of science in a liberal, democratic society. The book presents Mutual Competence Building as a concept higher education can adapt in order to contribute to a sustainable Society.

Hans Christian Garmann Johnsen is a professor in the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Agder in Norway and an adjunct professor at Gjovik University College. Professor Garmann Johnsen is a specialist in the study of working life and innovation and is the Centre Leader at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) at Agder. He has an MBA from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and gained his PhD at the Copenhagen Business School. His latest book is The New Natural Resource Knowledge Development, Society and Economics (2014). He also co-edited with Richard Ennals the book, Creating Collaborative Advantage: Innovation and Knowledge Creation in Regional Economies (2012).

Richard Ennals is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility and Working Life at Kingston University. He is part-time Professor at the University of Agder Department of Working Life and Innovation. He is an editor of the International Journal of Action Research and the European Journal of Workplace Innovation. He is author of Responsible Management: Corporate Responsibility and Working Life (Springer 2014). He contributed to the Encyclopaedia of CSR, the Dictionary of CSR and the Encyclopaedia of Action Research.

Stina Torjesen is Associate Professor at the School of Business and Law. She holds a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and is a former project manager in the sustainability consultancy SIGLA.