Our story
Global Teachers for a Sustainable Future comes from a committed partnership of universities and organisations in Europe. Together, we have embarked on a mission to develop an innovative training program with the goal of reshaping education for sustainable development and global citizenship.
We strongly believe that sustainability must be a priority for all stakeholders, including government, companies, and civil society. Research recognises higher education institutions as key actors. As emphasized in target 4.7 of the 2030 Agenda (SDG 4.7), it is important for all learners to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to advocate for sustainable development, encompassing education for global citizenship among other essential aspects.
Moreover, the European University Association (EUA) report on University and Sustainable Development Goals emphasises that universities play a crucial role in pioneering innovative practices, serving as indispensable contributors to achieving the SDGs. Beyond their core functions of research and delivering high-quality education, universities nurture students’ scientific mindset, curiosity, and entrepreneurship. This collaborative effort, involving researchers, teachers, and individuals from both private and public sectors, contributes significantly to generating knowledge and finding solutions to global challenges.
What do we want to achieve?
The Global Teachers for a Sustainable Future Program
Creating an innovative training GTSF program for higher education institutions that fosters sustainability and global citizenship among students. The program will adopt a collaborative, intercultural, transnational, and multidisciplinary approach.
“Global Teachers for a Sustainable Future” Manual
Developing a manual that outlines best practices for implementing the GTSF Program, promoting internationalisation at home as a sustainable measure for fostering global engagement.
Micro-credential Assessment Toolkit
A certification in education for sustainable development and global citizenship, complemented by an assessment handbook designed to validate students’ learning outcomes.
Learning Management System
Creating a dynamic virtual platform with both synchronous and asynchronous features to ensure educators, administrators, and learners access a unified, secure, and integrated system for personalised learning. The platform will empower teaching and learning through a set of learner-centric tools and collaborative environments
Partners involved
The CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH) forms part of a foundation called Fundacion CEU San Pablo, a not-for-profit educational organization. CEU UCH, has campuses in Elche, Castellón and Valencia, hosting 9,777 students and 1384 members of staff comprising administrative and academic roles. CEU UCH is the most international university in the region. More than one third of the students are international (35%) and from more than 90 different countries.
CEU UCH was the first Spanish university to be certified for quality in internationalization (CeQuint) at institutional level, certificate awarded by the European Consortium for Accreditation in Higher Education (ECA), has a strong experience in research and in the use of innovative methodologies for teaching.
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (TSNUK) is a leading educational and research institution in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, founded in 1834. With over 31,000 students and 3,100 academics, it offers a diverse range of undergraduate and graduate programs across 11 institutes and 13 faculties.
The Educational and Scientific Institute of Philology, its largest unit, stands out with 24 academic departments and language centers, offering programs in linguistics, translation, literary studies, culturology, and education. TSNUK is poised to make significant contributions to the Global Teachers for a Sustainable Future project, aligning with its commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and global citizenship. By actively participating in this initiative, the university aims to play a pivotal role in shaping educators who possess the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to incorporate global perspectives into their teaching.
The Global Case Study Challenge (short: GCSC) is a female-led virtual team driving a future-oriented movement of global, conscious, and sustainable thinkers and leaders. The GCSC orchestrates one of Europe’s most extensive Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and virtual exchange initiatives, engaging over 400 students from 20 countries in collaborative global virtual teams every year. Esteemed for its innovative approach, the GCSC management team has garnered multiple national and international awards, recognizing their impactful and forward-thinking learning designs.
The GCSC prepares students and young professionals for future careers and helps educators and learning professionals upskill for the digital world. The GCSC consults and trains HEIs on internationalization, virtual exchange, and sustainability.
Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUBS) is one of the strongest research universities in the state of Lower Saxony (Germany) and is located in the center of Europe’s most active R&D region. Over 16,000 students are enrolled in the TUBS (founded in 1745). The number of full-time staff is 3,800 at the beginning of 2023). With a strong focus on engineering, TUBS addresses global challenges within the framework of four interdisciplinary core research areas: mobility, metrology, city of the future and global health.
Collaborating with CEU-UCH, TUBS will take a co-leadership role in crafting the Global Teachers for a Sustainable Future Program. Leveraging its profound expertise in program development for global learning, sustainable development education, and intercultural citizenship education, TUBS’ Faculty of Humanities and Education is well-positioned to lead the program’s design.
Transilvania University of Brasov (UNITBV) is the largest comprehensive public university in the central region of Romania, founded in 1948, with 2000 + students and 1300 + staff members . UNITBV offers a diversity of study programs (100 bachelor programmes, 83 master programmes, 22 PhD programmes) covering 43 domains of science in the major fields of engineering, social sciences, law, humanities, arts, medicine, mathematics and sports.
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences will co-lead the creation of the Learning Management System together with Global Case Study Challenge, by being involved in the technical setup and the design of the Learning Management System contributing on didactical learning and teaching GTSF innovative concept.
As a non-profit university in Türkiye whose students are accepted with full scholarship, Ibn Haldun University has 250 staff members (150 academics, 100 administrative personnel) and 1000 students. It is among the top-ranking universities in Türkiye. Ibn Haldun University is in a dynamic cooperation with The Ministry of National Education (MoNE) to improve the quality of Education and Training Schools in Istanbul and overall Türkiye by conducting trainings for them and through MA and PhD programs targeted at administrative and teaching staff from schools.
Recognizing the importance of innovation in the educational, economic, and sustainable development, Ibn Haldun University is constantly working to improve and stimulate educational innovation, best practices and high-quality teaching in social sciences. University has also adopted new framework for boosting and supporting green innovation and SDGs. Ibn Haldun University aims to distinguish itself as a research institution in Türkiye and around the world with the quality of its education and the research projects it carries out.
The Spanish Network for Sustainable Development (REDS-SDSN Spain) was born in 2015 and is part of SDSN, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, created in 2012 by the then United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the academic Jeffrey Sachs. Since its creation, REDS-SDSN Spain has become a multi-stakeholder network of reference that brings together universities, public administrations, companies and civil society, with the mission of supporting the dissemination and implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Spain.
As one of the main academic networks in the world, REDS-SDSN Spain is in charge of the visbility and communication of the initiative, effectively communicating the GTSF initiative’s motivation, mission and goals, as well as the project outcomes and tools produced during the three-year project to both internal and external stakeholders.
Embedded in the region of Småland, Jönköping University is among the top universities in Sweden for student exchanges with 350 partner universities worldwide. The School of Education and Communication (SEC), one of the four schools at Jönköping University and the one where we as GTSF partners are situated, offers undergraduate programmes, master programmes, single-subject courses, and doctoral programmes. Education, communication, relations, dialogue and creativity are words that describe all our programmes and our ways of working.
We contribute as educators and researchers to the GTSF project as members of the pluri-disciplinary and internationally anchored research environment Communication, Culture, and Diversity (CCD) at JU. The research environment focuses on learning and communication related to digitalization, marginalization, and inclusion in historically diversified, multilingual and pluricultural settings. With an analytical focus on sustainable and ethically defendable learning designs, global perspectives and strategies for the sustainable development of education, we explore sustainable, digital transformations in society, education, and communication.
Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) is a distinguished public institution of higher education with a rich history deeply intertwined with Malaysia’s national education development. Originating as the Sultan Idris Training College in 1922, it evolved into a prominent university, officially named UPSI in 1997. Renowned as Malaysia’s premier university specializing in teacher training and education programs, UPSI boasts a student body of 29,294, including 1,502 international students, and a staff of 2,142 as of March 2024.
The Faculty of Computing and Meta-Technology (FKMT) at UPSI is actively engaged in the GTSF project, contributing to the facilitation of cross-cultural exchanges and enriching the project with diverse perspectives on education and societal norms. This collaboration enhances intercultural competencies and fosters critical thinking regarding cultural perceptions, aligning perfectly with UPSI’s mission of fostering global citizenship and excellence in education. Our unique expertise in teacher training and education programs ensures that our contribution significantly enriches the collective effort toward preparing educators for a sustainable future.