ABSTRACT
AsWals et al. (Chapter 2 in this Handbook) and Michelsen (Chapter 3 in this Handbook) indicate, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been a maturing field of practice, research and theory over almost three decades. After this time we could expect to see evidence of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) embracing ESD, and their curricular developing relevant competencies in graduates.Yet in HEIs we see few examples of where ESD has been integrated. A sober reflection on the complexity of HEIs indicates that this slow rate of change is not
surprising. This chapter is designed to explore the range of issues that make change in any HEI complicated, and consequently relatively slow. Once we have an appreciation of these factors we can, perhaps, appreciate and understand the achievements so far in implementing ESD.
