Following the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the United Nations
General Assembly Resolution on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), the United Nations University (UNU), through its Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU–IAS), launched a programme in 2003 on education for sustainable development.
Under the guidance of the then UNU Rector, Hans van Ginkel, UNU–IAS developed a concept paper on Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on education for sustainable development (ESD) and presented it during the 12th Session on the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD12) in April 2004 and at various other meetings, workshops and conferences. Since 2004, the stages of the evolution of the RCE initiative are depicted in the following figure.
Source: Harold Glasser Chair WMU PUSC & Acting Director RCE Grand Rapids
The UNU is granting official recognition to RCEs applications after approval and suggestions by UBUNTU Alliance composed of eleven of the world’s foremost educational and scientific/technological institutions. This Committee reviews applications for new RCEs and provides recommendations to UNU during the RCE acknowledgement process. The United Nations University – Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) acts as Secretariat of the Ubuntu Alliance. Seventy-four RCEs have been acknowledged globally as of January 2010.
As pointed by Mochizuki (2008) most concerns expressed over the RCE initiative have focused on the worth and effectiveness of RCEs. These concerns can be categorised as those over the quality control of RCEs and those over the effectiveness of RCEs as a mechanism to address pressing global problems, especially with regard to a progressive reconstruction of education and society in the face of accelerated economic globalisation.
Mochizuki, Y. (2008). The RCE Initiative as a Policy Instrument for Sustainable Development: Can it Match the World Heritage List and the Global Compact? Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, Vol 2(1): 61–71