Globethics Consortium on Ethics in Higher Education

Purpose

The Consortium initiative is a call for joint action by member institutions to contribute to creating a more ethical society through the education of future leaders in line with the goals developed by the UNESCO Framework for Action 2030 (United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4).

The main drivers in the higher education sector include universities, business schools, distance learning institutions, vocational and professional training institutes, international and regional associations of universities and technical colleges, as well as community leaders supporting  ethical governance and leadership in higher education. The Consortium of higher education institutions would seek to address together the ethical needs and challenges of the higher education sector.

  • Higher education institutions need the integration of values into their governance, management and daily practices
  • Teachers need course material and updated educational methods and content that are relevant to the global context and challenges awaiting their students. These include integrating ethical reflection and values such as responsibility, accountability, transparency, respect for diversity, respect for the environment and critical thinking into the teaching process
  • Students need access to reading material and inspirational models of sustainable development to feel connected with the world, and motivated by those models in their career planning and employment objectives 
  • Society needs to have responsible citizens as employers and ethical workers to ensure harmony and peace for a sustainable development of the economy and its integration to the global market.

 

Objectives

1. To support higher education institutions in their efforts to integrate values-based decision in governance, management and the daily practice of staff, management and board; 

2. To support teachers / students  with tools and resources to think and act according to ethical values; and

3. To raise the awareness of policymakers on the need to integrate values-based policies in education and in research.

Action Plan: three capacity building programmes

  1. Elaboration of ethics standards and benchmarking for ethical governance and management aiming at ranking and accreditation among Consortium members through the Certification Programme (Programme A);
  2. Creating awareness among teaching professionals on ethics education through our train-the-trainers programme, aiming at certified ethics professional (CEP) qualification label (Programme B); and
  3.  Supporting students with tools and resources to access quality education through our Joint Educational Projects in Ethics in Higher Education aiming at equal opportunities for employment (Programme C).