Improving Teaching In Higher Education For Students' Sustainable Development

The primary reason behind this study is making Higher Education for Sustainable Development(HESD)in Egypt,which is providing students with the proper knowledge,skills,and behavior to make them develop their country.This paper assumed that students' development is the core of achieving Sustainability in their country because students cannot build their country without being holistically developed,Holistic Student Development(HSD)is developing the student as a whole person for life and career.This study proposed applying ESD and HSD notions to HE in Egypt,seeking to improve the students' mindsets and characters as well as preparing them for personal and career life challenges.In other words,combining ESD and HSD will lead to Students' Sustainable Development(SSD),which is advancing the students' mindsets and enhancing their characters to develop them personally,academically,and professionally.Thus,SSD is the result of merging ESD and HSD concepts,which would make university students reach sustainable behavior to build a sustainable future for them and their country.On the contrary,there are fatal issues at universities that hinder SSD in HE.First,following old methods and methodologies of teaching as passive learning and reading from textbooks.As a result,students lose interest in education and study only for the exams.Second,separating the class from reality;the course contents include neither local nor global issues in the students' life.So,students do not know how to solve their problems and their country issues in the future.Third,some educators are not effective in their students' lives because they give full attention to explaining the curriculum,finishing classes on time,and evaluating students in the end.Consequently,students do not develop personally or professionally because they do not have the proper guidance and support.This study assumed that ESD and SSD would never be reached in HE without improving the process of teaching at universities.Thus,this paper tackled the following questions: What are the basic elements for students' sustainable development? What are the methods of teaching for students' sustainable development? What is the content of teaching for students' sustainable development? What is the effective role of teachers to reach students' sustainable development? These questions were answered theoretically by analyzing some international documents in the literature review and practically by doing interviews with educators and students from various ages and majors at October 6 University in Egypt.In the findings,the researcher discovered that the essential elements for SSD are as follows: enroll passionate,skillful,and qualified educators.HE should spread awareness about the students' role in building their country and give them practical tasks to involve them in their society.Also,HE must financially support scientific researches and projects.Both educators and HE should encourage art,sport,and intellectual activities at the university.Adding to this,Guidance Counselors and Academic Advisors should be specialists and experts to help students thrive mentally and psychologically.The researcher explored that the teaching methods for SSD are as follows: apply experiential and transformative learning theories,in addition to active and interactive learning methods.Moreover,use technology,media,and artistic means in teaching,as well as make debates,discussions,and discourse analysis to make students have critical and analytical thinking.Additionally,HE and educators should teach humanity courses such as Ethics and Psychology in practical ways to make them practice what they learn in activities and improve their characters.The research proposed the content for SSD as follows: it should be updated according to local and global challenges/issues in social,political,educational,economic,and environmental aspects of life to teach students how to face them.Moreover,the curriculum should be updated according to the latest technology in all the majors to make students updated.The paper added some courses like HR and PR,in addition to Character Growth and Etiquette,to be added to all majors to reach sustainable behaviors and attitudes from students.The research highlighted the influential role of teachers for SSD as follows: change their traditional roles as teachers into transformers,facilitators,guides,and advisors.The main objective of the impactful educator should be exploring the students' talents and skills,as well as encourage them to civilize their country and benefit their people through their abilities.They also should enhance university students on the academic,personal,and professional levels to be better versions of themselves.Moreover,effective educators should provide them with proper guidance,advice,and support to be able to prepare them for their personal life and the job market after graduation.Furthermore,the paper recommended that educators should build a prosperous relationship with their students' by treating them well,respect their effort,be available to guide them and give them proper feedback to help them improve their academic performance.