Cultivating humanity?

Various studies suggest that major changes are required in predominant human values during the next two generations, to ensure politically and environmentally sustainable societies and a sustainable global order: away from consumerism to a focus on quality of life; away from a certain type of possessive individualism, towards more human solidarity; and away from an assumption of domination of nature, towards a greater ecological sensitivity. The paper reviews evidence on the scale of these challenges. Second, it analyses their implications and the possibilities of change at personal, societal and global levels, with special reference to education and the respective roles and mutual entanglement of personal change and system change. Thirdly, it discusses possible lessons and contributions of internationally oriented postgraduate education, drawing some suggestions from experience in the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague.