Purpose-The aim of this paper is to contribute to aligning higher education towards meeting the challenge of global sustainability. Design/methodology/approach-The barriers to sustainability are juxtaposed against the resources, responsibilities and potential of higher education. Ideas from several models and from within several disciplines are integrated to construct a framework through the challenges can be examined and then translated into learning outcomes, expressed as graduate attributes. Findings-The focus of education for global sustainability has been on encouraging consumers to modify patterns of resource consumption and waste management. However, there are some significant limitations to relying on consumer action. Future professionals, involved in managing resources or designing options from which consumers make choices, are in a much better position for influencing how social, cultural and environmental resources are used. To actualise this potential requires that higher education curricula offer experiences which develop graduate attributes of self-efficacy, capacity for effective advocacy and interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as raise awareness of social and moral responsibilities associated with professional practice. Research limitations/implications-For higher education to contribute towards achieving sustainability requires support of the whole institution, and considerable professional development of staff to help them appreciate how they can lead the next generation to global sustainability. The next stage of the research into the role of higher education in building a sustainable society should focus on how these objectives can be achieved. Originality/value-Considerable research has been dedicated to describing the urgent and intractable nature of the problems facing the global community and, to some extent, the need for higher education to engage with these problems. This paper takes the next step by presenting some guidelines for designing curricula to develop graduate attributes required for this work.

This study investigates the effects of employment-related father absence on children\u27s psychological well-being and home based mothers’ perceptions of family functioning. Ninety primary school aged children and their mothers residing in Perth in Western Australia participated in this study. The sample consisted of three groups: children whose fathers were employed in fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) mining (n =30), children whose fathers were in the military (n =30) and a community sample (n =30) of children, whose fathers’ employment was not military or mining based and who did not have extended periods of absence from home. Children\u27s psychosocial well-being was measured by the Children\u27s Depression Inventory (CDI) and Revised Children\u27s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). Children\u27s and mothers’ perceptions of family function were assessed with the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Results indicated that there were no significant differences between the groups on all measures of child well-being, and all groups were functioning at healthy levels. However, mothers from the FIFO families reported significantly more stress than the military and community groups with respect to communication, support and behaviour control within the family. It was concluded that despite mothers’ perceptions of disruption to family routine, the well-being of children in this small sample was not affected

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Purpose -With the global community increasingly dependent on the food industry for the supply of one of the most basic of human needs, there is an imperative to consider how it can contribute to improving public nutrition into the future. This paper aims to present some ways that food companies can review policy and practice to meet this responsibility in the 21st century. Design/methodology/approach -Based on a review of relevant literature published between the 1980s through to 2010, changing attitudes and practices in the food manufacturing sector are outlined. These are analysed in the light of coinciding trends in consumer expectations and behaviour, and the development of new technologies for food production and information transfer. Findings -Widespread concern about the environment, increasing technological innovation, growing knowledge of diet-health relationships and changing patterns of diet-related disease risks are redefining responsibilities across the food industry. Food companies have been criticised for some negative effects on health, in particular, for contributing to obesogenic environments in many countries. Collaborating with all stakeholders will determine the way for the manufacturing sector to make positive contributions to public nutrition in the future. Originality/value -This paper contributes to the discourse necessary to identify the emerging responsibilities, set targets, develop strategies and share the tasks to be undertaken in working towards building a health protective food supply.

Consumers are essentially decision‐makers, with a strong influence in the product chain. Establishing sustainable global resource systems, across developed and developing nations, is dependent on finding ways to encourage consumers to prioritise environmental issues as one of the key determinants of their consumption decisions. More than this, all stakeholders in the product chain must become aware of their impacts on the psychological, social, cultural, physical and economic environments that predispose consumers to certain approaches when making consumption decisions. Conventional science has not provided the solutions for several reasons. Pure science and technology have developed according to different agendas and interests. Science has generally not been communicated in ways that allow consumers to make day‐to‐day decisions, fully informed of the implications. The barriers to genuine interdisciplinary research required to generate socially relevant solutions to the complex problems associated with traditional consumption patterns are only now being slowly overcome. Due to its interdisciplinary and integrated nature, consumer science provides a theoretical platform from which to formulate the core questions, articulated within a framework in which all stakeholders can contribute in synergistic ways to reverse the escalating rates of resource depletion, disparities of resources between groups, loss of species and pervasive pollution. There is no other discipline which offers an encompassing and integrated framework for the responsible communication of science necessary to describe the problems. Most importantly, consumer science has the capacity to research and interpret individual and social behaviour in ways which lead to innovative and effective controls to improve and sustain new standards for living on this vulnerable plant.