Pour un leadership étudiant vers l’écodéveloppement des universités et des collèges

• Main Author: Marc Boutet
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Éditions en environnement VertigO 2012-04-01
• Series: VertigO
• Subjects: Keywords : service learning; sustainability; education; sustainable development; institution
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/11599

Students can and must act as leaders for orienting the higher education institutions towards a sustainable development. In this article, we first present a sustainable development plan which counts on the students to transform the universities and colleges into exemplary institutions not only by modifying daily life habits on campuses but also, and above all, through their training and research programs. A central feature of this plan is the integration of service-learning into as many courses and research projects as possible, in order to have the students mobilize their knowledge and resources for the community. This is why we also discuss the issues and the consequences of such a citizenship commitment, more particularly in the light of the results of an analysis made in a sustainable and environmental education course offered at Sherbrooke University. Finally, we describe a project of creating a website that would allow Sherbrooke University students to use their disciplinary competences developed in their courses or research projects for helping community groups to reach their sustainable development objectives.