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Given that this book places the interconnectedness of international sustainable development and education particularly in times of crises at the centre of attention, it is impossible to disregard the nuanced nature of this crisis context. Based on a review of relevant literature, this chapter focuses on the following four main areas. First, it analyses the complex nature of the definition of the crisis, as multiple attempts to understand the phenomenon of crises and their various classifications have been consensual in recognising that crises are multidimensional and interrelated, that they are integral to the process of change and that they present a range of interconnected factors that distort the normal operation of people, organisations, their relationships, resources, etc. Second, this chapter explains the phenomenon of glocalisation in relation to crises to further detail how intertwined different crises are. When applied to the analysis of crises, the phenomenon of glocalisation is paramount in understanding how locally born crises can trigger globally reaching effects and vice versa. Third, this chapter discusses the impact of crises on international sustainable development. Finally, it is proposed in this chapter that education should be viewed as an important tool in tackling crises and, thus, easing the progress towards sustainable development internationally. This chapter provides important contextualisation regarding the evolving multidimensional and intertwined crises against the background of which the discussion in this book embarks on in its subsequent parts.

This opening chapter outlines the background and focus of this book and conceptualises our key terms, such as ‘international development’ and ‘crises’. This chapter explains that by examining the relationship between education and international sustainable development in the context of crises, this book aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the role that education can play in international development and how international developments can shape education. The structure of this book is outlined as well at the end of the chapter.

Globally, teachers are operating in environments influenced by past, current and anticipated crises. Students today need to develop the critical skills that will empower them to be agents of change in response to these crises. Education for global citizenship offers an approach that can mediate both content and process priorities, yet many teachers do not have the tools and strategies needed to deliver these dual outcomes. Habermas’ theory of communicative action offers a framework through which teachers can harness the potential of the so-called learning lifeworld to educate for global citizenship. This is of particular importance when considering education through the lens of international sustainable development. The contextualisation of communicative acts within the learning lifeworld offers the prospect of elevating students as agentic leaders within their communities. This chapter focuses on and unpacks the concept of education for global citizenship as a key tool for overcoming current crises and positions the theory of communicative action as a viable theoretical framework in the delivery of that concept. The ethnographic case study presented explores students’ perspectives on how their learning lifeworlds shape their identities, highlighting the role of culture, society and person in combatting lifeworld colonisation and nurturing global citizens. It finds that the theory of communicative action can be used as a tool to help students develop self-directedness and independence. It is argued teachers can use communicative acts to promote and model the values of education for global citizenship, ultimately better preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s world.

In modern times, various American-style liberal arts universities have been established in conflict-affected states, including Iraqi Kurdistan. In the aftermath of the United States-led invasion of 2003, the majority of Iraq’s universities were destroyed, which later provided further opportunities for the establishment of new higher education institutions, including those with an American-style university model. Taking the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) as a case study, this chapter explores the social impact of universities in post-conflict settings, including the impact of the cultural, communal, and research centres affiliated with the university. Using Onyx’s (2014) conceptual framework of impact as an interpretive lens, interviews were conducted with nine professionals working at AUIS, five affiliated centres, and at an academic preparatory programme (APP). The findings demonstrate that participants perceive their initiatives and programmes to have a generally positive social impact such as by promoting policy dialogue, instigating social change, promoting community services, preserving cultural traditions, and building capacity. Nonetheless, some issues limit the social impact of the initiatives undertaken, including communication challenges, limited funding, an unclear institutional vision, individualised efforts for community improvement, and the Kurdish community’s hesitancy to accept AUIS’ values and more liberal endeavours. Accordingly, we argue that the lack of clarity pertaining to AUIS’ institutional identity and limited collaboration or communication between the university and its organisational affiliates, among other challenges, have limited the social impact of the university and its outreach within the Kurdish community in Iraq.

Migration has become a challenging issue in the field of education and an ongoing crisis for many countries. The migration crisis and education have a reciprocal relationship in that the influx of migrants puts a strain on educational systems, particularly regarding resources, funding, and linguistic and cultural differences. However, education can play a crucial role in addressing some of the challenges associated with migration, such as the need to integrate, skill acquisition and cultural awareness in host countries, as well as brain drain in the countries of origin. It is crucial to investigate how education can both address the problems caused by migration and maximise its potential for sustainable development. This chapter targets analysing relevant scholarship and aims to illustrate the broad patterns of relevant scholarly sources on migration in the field of education indexed in the Web of Science between 2015 and 2022, explore their collaboration trends, and reveal the conceptual structure of these studies in the context of international sustainable development. A bibliometric methodology is employed for the exploration and analysis of the publications; 991 studies on migration in the field of education are descriptively analysed in terms of distribution of publications with their citations, topics at the micro level, journals, and the number of authors contributing to these papers. The results contribute to picturing the characteristics and collaboration trend of the scholarly sources on migration in the area of education as a challenging disabler or a driving force that contributes to societal development within the scope of international sustainable development.

This concluding chapter summarises and discusses some of the key messages from the chapters in this book. Careful consideration of the terms introduced, defined and refined in this book (e.g., crises) is made, along with the contexts in which such refined definitions may be especially useful for research, scholarship and practice in higher education. The points of intersections among this book’s chapters and the authors’ arguments are also highlighted in this chapter.

Higher education institutions must keep up to date with the changing needs and situations of students, addressing societal issues affecting young people’s lives and learning. Among the crises that higher education institutions in South Korea are facing, population decline and a lack of sustainable development present a significant threat to these institutions’ existence as well as student satisfaction and learning experience. By relying on a review of relevant literature, this chapter will discuss each of these challenges and potential solutions. We hope that our discussion of the challenges in South Korea will also highlight that many of the ‘crises’ for higher education and ways to tackle them can be both localised and globally applicable. What is significant here is that higher education has a key role to play in preparing the young generation of Koreans to embrace sustainability and to foster resilience in them – for preparedness for future crises. We propose that a focus on community identity strength and education for sustainable development (ESD) can work as a solution for improving students’ learning and global citizenship in these areas. Furthermore, we argue that this is especially important for preserving local and regional strengths and, ultimately, mutual development between the region and universities. Sustainable development depends on building a stronger and positive personal and collective identity, and students’ active participation in sustainable development transcends the localised challenges. Such outcomes are also important for the sustainable future of higher education in South Korea and continuous development in the higher education scholarship.

The aim of this chapter is to understand the policy liberties and constraints within which school headteachers, and teachers aspire to promote high-quality education for their pupils in private schools in Somalia in the context of conflict in the country. This chapter develops this understanding of headteachers particularly in low-cost primary private schools in Somalia. The analysis in this chapter is informed by Mumford et al.’s Skills Model, as this approach combines the notion of knowledge and abilities necessary for effective leadership. First, using interview data with headteachers, we critique how headteachers in private schools in Mogadishu, Somalia, lead and manage schools when there is a crisis and conflict surrounding them, by unpacking the concepts of leadership and management. Second, we shed light on how well they are prepared and developed professionally to manage in such a turbulent environment caused by the war in Somalia. Here, we consider the role of the Federal Ministry of Education in the level of support that headteachers get in enacting their education policy. Third, this chapter discusses the impact of such crises on the quality of education provision for local private schools. Finally, this chapter identifies lessons to be learnt through suggested recommendations for headteachers in leading and managing education in times of turbulence and conflict. Here, we pose a suggestion for headteachers to consider if glocalisation, as a phenomenon, may offer a way to resolve local crises with local solutions in providing high-quality education for their students.