World Student Community for Sustainable Development

by Chaitra Chandrasekhar

Dr. Roger Baud, PhD. Social Psychology and Journalism, took on the job of AGS coordinator for Switzerland at ETH Zurich in 1998. He was the main person behind starting the Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES).

Chaitra Chandrasekhar (CC), chief editor of the E-journal, interviewed Dr. Baud (RB) for his views on YES and the WSC-SD.

CC: What was your motivation behind starting the YES courses?

RB: My main motivation was to bring together young people from all over the world, to get them sensitized to questions of sustainable development – including ways of future living forms that recognize the ecological balance of the earth’s system. We wish to allow students from all disciplines, who will be the future leaders in our society, to think, to discuss, and to get knowledge input regarding the problems we are facing. We would like them to work towards a more sustainable world that allows a longterm survival of mankind in conformity with nature. In order to allow a best learning practice, courses shall be of minimum 14 days duration, students shall have a living experience in a multi-cultural group in a sound environment, lectures shall be combined with discussions, exchange of knowledge and information, outdoor activities, and visits.

CC: What is the focus of the YES courses? Has it changed over the years? Would you like to see any changes?

RB: The main focus is awareness building, including emotional elements, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary learning. The focus did not change over time, but we learned a lot ourselves and adapted the course structure gradually from year to year. YES is an educational experiment, that will be allowed to develop and has been in a continual state of testing new forms in multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural education. YES shall be exported to other areas of the world, and maybe also focused (in special issues) on specific topics of sustainability.

CC: What do you think should be the main driving force and focus of the WSC-SD at this young point its life?

RB:
- WSC should, first of all, establish clear models of organization, and decide how different universities become a member (criteria), and how they guarantee continuation.
- The focus should be to have strong local organizations, who define their own programs. The international organization, on the other hand, could have a kind of loose federation-type structure, forming a platform for communication, exchange of information, network, etc. It does not have to stress too much about international projects but rather think globally and act locally. The work should be done on the local/regional level.

CC: What, in your point of view, is the relationship between the AGS and the student community?

RB:
- In my opinion, of course there should be a good communication link between AGS and the WSC, including financial help. But WSC needs to be an independent organization.

CC: What role do you think the student community has in the future? How should we work towards that?

RB:
- The activities of the WSC – realized through local/regional SC’s – should strongly emphasise strength on action, not too much on realization of scientific projects (they take too long, and are very cost intensive, anly involve very few members). The WSC could become the voice of the students in matters (policy) of sustainable development. The WSC should be present at international conference, in decision-making process, etc. Therefore they have to be action-oriented, organize activities with exposure to the public.

Dr. Roger Baud holds a PhD. in Social Psychology and Journalism from the University of Zürich (1973). He has been a teacher at secondary schools, a psychology assistant at U. of Zürich and has conducted social research in the public sector. Dr. Baud has also been the director of various tourism enterprises and an environmental NGO and has acted as an environmental tourism consultant leading research projects with the Swiss National Science Foundation.