Institutionalizing Sustainability in Universities: Actors and Complexities

• In Event: Contextualising and reframing sustainability in higher education

Proposal

The climate crisis, ongoing conflicts, and broader social injustices pose challenges to the planet, prompting a global call for sustainability and sustainable development. Universities have shown commitments to sustainability, for example, reporting their practices in sustainability (Ceulemans et al., 2015), incorporating sustainability in their missions and visions (Bedoya-Dorado et al., 2022), and setting up offices dedicated to sustainability work (Leal Filho et al., 2019). These practices indicate that sustainability has started to be institutionalized within every fabric of the university operations and beyond. This institutionalization, if widespread in the higher education sector, will have far reaching impact on the sustainability of our societies.

Yet, our research shows that a small percentage of universities worldwide has institutionalized sustainability in their operations and beyond; and it is not clear how these early adopter universities have institutionalized sustainability. Universities have many other mandates but often limited resources. Additionally, universities may make formal commitments but may not walk their talk (Rasche & Gilbert, 2015). Moreover, universities are increasingly criticized for being embedded and complicit in the global capitalist system (Stein, 2021) that underlies the challenges that sustainability aim to address.

Given the complexities mentioned, this paper aims to understand how early adopter universities have managed to institutionalize sustainability and what challenges arose or remain in the process. It draws on semi-structured interviews with sustainability professionals or leaders in over 100 universities from over 45 countries worldwide. We selected universities who made formal commitments to sustainability, via participation in global sustainability rankings or assessments (GreenMetric, Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, QS Sustainability Ranking, and STARS). In the interviews, we probed universities how sustainability has become an organizational priority, and what challenges they face while implementing sustainability.

Preliminary findings suggest that the institutionalization of sustainability is facilitated by various internal and external actors, who directly advocate for and indirectly push universities to commit to sustainability. Internal actors include student, staff and faculty advocates and university leaders who are keen for their university to contribute to sustainability. External actors include national governments, UN SDGs, global sustainability ranking agencies, and university alliances, who have pushed universities to make commitments to sustainability. Yet, complexities and challenges exist. For example, resistance to change is prevalent as some internal stakeholders view sustainability as something good to have rhetorically but not directly relevant to them. Some participants critique universities’ authenticity in contributing to sustainability, referencing the detachment of their formal commitment and lack of actions on the ground. Moreover, participants outside of Europe and North America tend to lament that they have concrete initiatives in sustainability, but their contributions are not recognized in global sustainability rankings.

In conclusion, preliminary findings from this study point to the complexity of institutionalizing sustainability in the university sector. While internal and external actors have facilitated a culture where universities must commit to sustainability, various financial and cultural challenges impede the tangible implementation of sustainability that could lead to real impact on the society.

Authors

• You Zhang, OISE, University of Toronto

• Elizabeth Buckner, University of Toronto OISE