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Session Submission Summary

The Role of Universities Promoting Sustainable Development: An Analysis of Cross-National Trends and Localization

Tue, February 21, 2:45 to 4:15pm EST (2:45 to 4:15pm EST), Grand Hyatt Washington, Floor: Independence Level (5B), Independence I

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Sustainable development is one of our most pressing global challenges. In 2015, member states of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Universities are widely recognized as having a role to play in meeting the SDGs. Accordingly, the academic literature has documented how the call to advance sustainable development is becoming increasingly institutionalized as a mandate for universities around the world (Ceulemans et al., 2015; Disterheft et al., 2013). In prior decades, this took the form of campus greening, but research on Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) now documents the integration of sustainability as an orientation for pedagogy, research, and community partnerships.

However, even while sustainable development is quickly becoming a new legitimating discourse in higher education, this does not mean its definition, associated meanings, and practices are fixed. The concept itself remains abstract, complex, and multidimensional (Ceulemans et al., 2015; Waas et al., 2011). As an emergent global model, meanings and practices associated with advancing sustainable development vary significantly (Williams & Millington, 2004).
Yet, systematic literature reviews have shown that most of the research on HESD is small-scale, qualitative case studies that focus on documenting the practices of a few institutions (Hallinger & Chatpinyakoop, 2019). There is a lack of systematic, cross-national, or longitudinal data that can provide a more comprehensive perspective on how, where, and why universities are incorporating sustainable development into their missions and operations.

Moreover, the majority of research on HESD is authored by and focuses on institutions in the Global North (Caeiro et al., 2020; Hallinger & Chatpinyakoop, 2019; Urbanski & Leal Filho, 2015; Yanez et al., 2019). For example, one practice is known as sustainability tracking, also called sustainability benchmarking, sustainability assessments, sustainability reporting, and green ranking (Kosta, 2019; Lozano, 2011; Ragazzi & Ghidini, 2017; Sayed Abu & Asmuss, 2013; Urbanski & Leal Filho, 2015), offering concrete ways for colleges and universities to assess how their curriculum, research, and operations align with rigorous external standards. To date, most research on sustainability development and tracking in higher education focuses on institutions in the Global North (Caeiro et al., 2020; Urbanski & Leal Filho, 2015; Yanez et al., 2019). This is despite the fact that lower- and middle-income countries in the Global South are disproportionately experiencing the effects of climate change and environmental degradation (Islam & Winkel, 2017).

There are many reasons to be concerned that sustainability commitments may become a new form of hierarchy in higher education. Many of the most lauded practices associated with sustainability are resource-intensive, such as ambitions carbon offsetting projects on campuses, which may not be feasible for universities without substantial funds. We might find that emergent practice such sustainability rankings and assessments casts universities in North America and Europe as exemplars and ignore practices that are not locally-relevant or feasible for universities around the world. Alternatively, we may fail to recognize how universities in lower- and middle-income countries may develop distinctive approaches to advancing sustainable development not evident in universities in North America and Europe.

For too long, in the fields of both educational development and higher education, ideas that become theorized as ‘best practices’ –have been thought to originate primarily in inter-governmental organizations such as UNESCO or world-class universities. Hallinger and Chatpinyakoop (2019) find that over 55% of scholarly studies on HESD are produced in only four countries (i.e., the US, UK, Canada and Australia), while only 16% of studies are based in lower and middle-income countries. They point out that this is a problem for the field, as solutions and strategies in HESD may not transfer well to countries and contexts with very different higher education systems, and argue that research on HESD needs to be “grounded in a broader set of cultural, institutional, and socioeconomic contexts” (p. 15). This need is particularly pressing given that lower- and middle-income countries in the Global South are disproportionately experiencing the effects of climate change and environmental degradation (Islam & Winkel, 2017).

Recognizing these concerns, this panel brings together three papers that constitute findings from a multi-pronged research program on how HESD is enacted in diverse contexts and what the field might learn from the experiences of universities located in lower- and middle-income countries. The papers have a shared theoretical grounding, which views commitments to sustainability as a emergent legitimizing mandate in higher education that has diffused globally as a best practice.

The papers in the panel examine three inter-related topics: the first draws on explicit definitions of ‘sustainability’ that are self-declared by universities in their institutional reports on sustainability assessments, drawn from the The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). The findings deconstruct the many ideas that being attached to the concept of sustainability, focusing on institutions in North America.

The second draws on a random sample of 3,000 universities around the world to examine the extent to which sustainability and sustainable development is included in the mission and vision statements of universities worldwide, and points to cross-national differences.

The third paper draws on open-ended semi-structured interviews with 25 university administrators and leaders located in varied countries outside of North America or Europe including China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela to understand how their universities understand sustainability, their university priorities, approaches to advancing sustainable development, and, factors affecting their decisions to participate in sustainability tracking or not.

Combined, the papers all bring attention to how universities’ mandates are changing to emphasize sustainable development, but that understandings and approaches are localized to both the national and institutional context. They also highlight the wide diversity of definitions and approaches being pursued in the name of sustainable development.

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