Reinventing Higher Education: Towards Participatory and Sustainable Development

In December 2007, the Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID), UNESCO Bangkok, convened the 11th UNESCO-APEID Conference entitled "Reinventing Higher Education: Toward Participatory and Sustainable Development." This volume contains selected papers from that conference, which was held in Bangkok from 12 to 14 December 2007. The objectives of the Conference were to: • enhance understanding of the concepts and principles of participatory and sustainable development; • explore the role of higher education institutions in engaging with communities, NGOs and the private sector; • encourage the formulation of collaborative participatory and sustainable development programmes and activities; • facilitate the development of a network of policy makers, educators and learners who will contribute to collaborative learning for participatory development and social change; and • showcase examples and models of "Participatory and Sustainable Development in Action" (APEID, 2007, p. 1). The meeting organizers defined participatory development as a bottom-up, grassroots, people-centred approach to development. It is directed at taking advantage of the full potential of all sectors of society, "especially poor and marginalized social groups."