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The purpose of this paper is to analyse various aspects of education for sustainable development (ESD) drawing attention to the approaching end of the UN Decade on ESD (DESD) in 2014 and to the necessity of the continuation of ESD activities. Defining the internationalisation of education as an ever more significant part of globalisation, the paper insists that the education should be recognised as the foundation for sustainable development and building of the global knowledge society.

The author presents a vision of the education as of a global “soft power” thus introducing a new understanding and a different application of the notion used mainly in a negative sense which, in author's opinion, can serve as educational instrument and technology of attraction. The author's methodology and approach take note of the basic principles of the globalisation theory and include the recognition of the fact that the contradiction between global interdependent problems of the planetary scale on one side and the existing rather fragmentary and desultory way of acquiring knowledge on the other side is the main challenge to the present and future quality of the human potential.

Considering ways how to continue the work on ESD after the end of the UN DESD in 2014, the author expresses a point of view that it should be an innovation project requiring state, public, law and financial support. United Nations Organization for Science, Culture and Education (UNESCO) Chairs have an important role to play as a new instrument of the global educational “soft power” inspired to promote knowledge and scientific experience worldwide.

Authentic experience of the UNESCO Chair creation and activity at the Faculty of Global Studies at Moscow State University is shown. The author having about 40 years of experience of cooperation with UNESCO as a member of a group of experts at the Director General, later – as a diplomat at UNESCO and recently – as UNESCO Chairholder presents an original point of view based on personal findings and conclusions.

This chapter has three main objectives: (1) to address the qualitative and quantitative impact of globalization in higher education institutions (HEI) and in the higher education systems (HES) in different regions and countries during the past 20 years; (2) stress the need of having specific levels of social equity in order to attain a permanent education for all and for life applying adequate educational policies; and (3) refer briefly to the need of a world report on higher education.

The ideas discussed in this chapter highlight key issues identified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regarding higher education, such as access, diversification, pertinence (or social commitment), quality, management, financing, new technologies of information and communication (ICT), and international cooperation.

The purpose of this paper is to review the federal decisions to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response in the United States and consider the different approaches employed by the California state government.

This paper focuses on COVID-19-related issues, responses and implications in federal countries, and largely draws comparisons between the Trump Administration and California state.

The slow response of the federal government could have been avoided, had there been a current and tested national plan. The defunding of the Office of Pandemics and Emerging Threats, and the lack of coordination between the Trump Administration and the states have contributed to its ranking as the country with the highest COVID-19 infection and fatality rates worldwide. California state oversaw an effective initial pandemic response, which was ultimately undermined by a lack of national support and the refusal of some citizens to comply with the restrictions.

The paper draws upon open-source information published on government websites and news media.

As the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is currently ongoing, information about the federal governance and state response is still evolving. The authors examine California as a state exemplar, since it is the largest such jurisdiction by populace and the first state to issue statewide mandatory lockdown measures. This comparison offers insights as to the decisive initiatives that could have occurred at the federal level. The “lessons learned” highlight the critical role of crisis leadership in societal and public health preparedness for future pandemic events.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) should play a fundamental role in achieving the international 2030 sustainable development (SD) agenda. Quality education is the fourth of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and one of the targets related to this is to ensure that by 2030 all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote SD. Therefore, the SDGs provide a motive for HEIs to integrate SD concepts into their day-to-day practices. This study aims to introduce a framework for HEIs’ sustainable development assessment. Such a framework guides HEIs and educational leaders to support their countries’ commitments to achieving the SDGs.

This paper presents the results of a case study analysis of the role and successful techniques of HEIs in achieving SD in three countries, namely, Germany, Japan and Egypt. Primary data was collected by semi-structured interviews with three Cairo University officials, while secondary data was collected by reviewing the universities' official websites, reports, publications and related papers. This study introduces a novel framework for HEIs' SD analysis and assessment, which guides HEIs and educational leaders to support SD to fulfill their countries' commitments to achieving the SDGs. This framework is based on the following five categories: strategic direction and institutional working practices, supporting students, supporting university staff competencies, supporting society's stakeholders and networking and sustainable campus. Consideration is given to the potential role of HEIs to support SD in each of these areas.

Cairo University could learn from the novel and pioneer practices of the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, and the University of Tokyo to fill in the gaps it has in different roles. It can also put more effort into adopting the suggested higher education programs of Egypt's Vision 2030.

This paper is limited to a case analysis comparing three countries, Germany, Japan and Egypt. Second, this study has not considered school education, which is equally essential in countries' SD.

HEIs can use the framework and the findings in this paper to evaluate their current roles in supporting SD, identify the gaps and take actions accordingly to address their weaknesses.

The paper compares three universities, one in each of the case study countries. It draws conclusions that identify ways in which the paper's framework and findings can guide SD practice in HEIs internationally, especially those in the developing world.

The need for stakeholder theory has been widely highlighted in the literature to develop solid strategies for a large organization. However, there is still a lack of user-friendly visualization tools and no unique approach exists to identify and engage stakeholders. This paper aims to propose a general methodology to co-design the sustainability ecosystem at the local scale, to explore it and to assess the impact of a large organization within the identified ecosystem.

The methodology consists of two main processes: identifying an ontological map of the sustainability topics network and designing the local sustainability stakeholders ecosystem. Both processes are based on a nodes identification phase and a nodes prioritization phase. The identification phase was achieved by engaging 160 citizens, for the topics network and nearly 40 relevant stakeholders, for the stakeholders’ ecosystem, with a collaborative participatory mapping process. The prioritization phase was conducted because of three indicators, i.e. the closeness, the betweenness and the eigenvector centrality.

Betweenness centrality results to be the best indicator to assess the importance of a stakeholder with respect to the whole network, while eigenvector centrality highlights the quality of the already engaged stakeholders of an organization, as it mainly depends on the number of links of the first order neighbors. On the contrary, the closeness centrality, when applied to a small network, seems to be not appropriate to assess the centrality of a stakeholder.

This approach revealed some criticalities in the mapping process, as in the weighting link procedure. Further investigations are needed to generalize the approach to a dynamic one, to allow real-time mapping and to develop a robust interconnection among centrality degrees and the power, interest and legitimacy concept of stakeholder theory.

Obtained results for a case study, i.e. the position of the University of Turin Green Office within the City of Turin sustainability ecosystem, are discussed showing how social network analysis centrality degrees can be used to quantitatively assess the role of an organization within a stakeholders’ ecosystem.

Centrality analysis allows identifying emergent topics/stakeholders within a network of words/actors that, at a first sight, should not be considered by decision-makers and managers.

A new methodology for stakeholder identification and prioritization is proposed exploiting online data visualization tools, participatory mapping and social network analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the most important initiatives and the strategic framework of the European Union (EU) supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This paper also presents an overview of the progress towards the 4th Sustainable Development Goal (quality education) mainly in tertiary and adult education in the EU context.

The adopted research method includes a literature survey, a study of law regulations and strategic documents of the EU and their critical analysis. The main axis of empirical investigation is a comparative analysis. Thematic scope of the analysis embraces indicators such as tertiary educational attainment, employment rate of recent graduates and adult participation in learning.

The results of the comparative analysis confirm the diversity between Member States in achieving the goals of sustainable development. Overall positive trends in the development of quality education can be observed in the EU. However, the gender gaps in tertiary educational attainment and in the employment rate of recent graduates have been widening. Moreover, the EU is not on track to meet its 2020 benchmarks for adult participation in learning.

The paper systematizes knowledge of initiatives of the EU for sustainable development and supplements it with a comparative analysis in the field of statistical data, which allows for a better understanding of the state and the prospects of implementing the idea of quality education at the EU level.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, schools closed in haste and were expected to create virtual learning opportunities for their students while they waited to see when and how they might re-open. National governments issued reopening guidance at varying speeds. The purpose of this study was to invite health and education professionals to share what was happening in their country about school reopening in terms of the features and implications of the guidance issued.

A qualitative study. Initial interviews informed a semi-structured questionnaire distributed through the global community of UNESCO Chair ‘Global Health and Education’ and partner organisations. Its aim was to collect, analyse and share globally relevant knowledge and practices about school reopening.

There were 192 useable responses from 43 countries and territories and 1 multi-country region. 20 of these, mainly in the Global North, had received reopening guidance, 23 were still waiting and 1 had not closed its schools. Guidance prioritised public health measures like social distancing, with less emphasis on education impacts. Success came from partnerships between schools, families and local authorities, consistent guidance and enough time and resources for implementation. Fear of infection led to significant absenteeism among students and staff. Respondents waiting for guidance, mainly in the Global South, shared similar concerns and expectations.

Describing first-hand practices and perspectives of health and education professionals from diverse countries and territories about reopening schools.

This article explores the concept of “heritage futures”, the role of heritage in managing relations between present and future societies. It assesses how thinking strategically about the future changes, complicates and contextualises practices of heritage. What might an attention to the future bring to work in heritage, and simultaneously, what challenges—both practical and ethical—arise?

This article takes the form of a conversation about the nature of heritage futures and how such a project may be implemented in both heritage practice and field research in heritage studies. The two authors are heritage scholars who integrate heritage futures questions into their research in different ways, and their conversation uncovers potentialities and difficulties in the heritage futures project.

The discussion covers the particular ethical issues that arise when the dimension of time is added to heritage research and practice, including questions of continuism, presentism and specificity. The conversation argues for the importance of considering the future in heritage studies and heritage practice and that this forms a key part of understanding how heritage may be part of building a sustainable present and future.

The future is an under-examined concept within heritage studies, even as heritage is often framed as something to be preserved “for future generations”. But what impact might it have on heritage practice to really consider what this means, beyond the platitude? This article suggests that heritage scholars and practitioners direct their attention to this often-neglected facet of heritage.

The debate on tourism sustainability and its contribution to local development has been very active, especially in connection with world heritage sites (WHSs). The analysis conducted was intended to evaluate the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in promoting sustainable tourism, stating the relevance given online by local and international operators to the fact a destination was a WHS and to its commitment over sustainability issues. With this aim, the authors aim to take the perspective of a person navigating online to collect information on possible travel to a specific globally recognised WHS: the Victoria Falls.

In this paper, for its structure, the authors propose the UN World Tourism Organisation book on sustainability (Sustainable Tourism for Development Guidebook, 2013) to define a framework suitable for a content analysis of websites and mobile applications – available to a prospective traveller, interested in visiting the Victoria Falls, one of the most known WHSs in Africa, not directly for a heritage end.

There are 91 available online resources that have been studied to assess whether the Victoria Falls is an area recognised and protected by UNESCO; the presence of sustainability-related contents; and the importance of information providers covering this topic and sharing with readers. A potential tourist to the Falls is not well informed online about issues related to sustainable tourism; his attention is likely not to be drawn to such issues, at least not explicitly. The results show there is plenty of room to improve the online communication value of an area recognised by UNESCO.

Literature does not offer other studies linking both WHSs and sustainability (and the related issues) to ICTs and adopting the tourist point of view. Using a WHS case, the results give evidence of the lack of a proper online communication, underlying the outstanding value of the area, and the destination’ initiatives towards sustainability. Results suggest how relevant could be for a destination to offer a proper and complete online communication, to educate travellers about the several implications of being a WHS and about a sustainable and responsible behaviour in case they choose to visit it.