- The Economic: “for any element in an environment to be economically viable, the quantified costs and benefits must result in a system that has the capacity to be profitable and survive…To be economically viable, a program has to have enough administrative, faculty, and student support to be cost effective for the university” (4)
- The Ecologic: “the university will be considered in terms of an ecology of knowledges. Knowledge ecology advocates argue that ‘knowledge exists in ecosystems, in which information, ideas, and inspiration cross-fertilize and feed one another’ (Por & Spivak, 2000, online). A more complex conception of the university as a knowledge ecology is offered by Catherine Odora Hoppers (2006), who posited that the university is a ‘fomalised ecology of knowledge’” that results in tensions between stakeholders due to a range of institutional factors” (4). “The ecology of knowledges learns heavily on the concepts of interdisciplinarity” (5).
- The Social: “In a socially just society, all people and groups would have the same basic rights, security, opportunities, obligations, and social benefits…It follows that the goals of a socially just university are to provide access to a diverse student population, to provide that students of all types have the opportunity to succeed within the university, and to equip students with the background and knowledge to succeed outside of the university” (5).
Key Term:
- Sustainability: “development that meets the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (2). Values pragmatics over technology.