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Assessing the Impacts of Higher Education Institutions on Sustainable Development—An Analysis of Tools and Indicators

Author

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  • Florian Findler

    (Institute for Managing Sustainability, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, A-1020 Vienna, Austria)

  • Norma Schönherr

    (Institute for Managing Sustainability, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, A-1020 Vienna, Austria)

  • Rodrigo Lozano

    (Department of Industrial Development, IT and Land Management, University of Gävle, Kungsbäcksvägen 47, SWE-80176 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Barbara Stacherl

    (Institute for Managing Sustainability, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, A-1020 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

Many higher education institutions (HEIs) have started to incorporate sustainable development (SD) into their system. A variety of sustainability assessment tools (SATs) have been developed to support HEIs to systematically measure, audit, benchmark, and communicate SD efforts. In recent years, stakeholders have increasingly asked HEIs to demonstrate their impacts on SD. These impacts are the direct and indirect effects an HEI has outside of its organizational boundaries on society, the natural environment, and the economy. This study analyzes to what extent SATs are capable of measuring the impacts that HEIs have on SD. A mixed-method approach, using descriptive statistics and an inductive content analysis, was used to examine 1134 indicators for sustainability assessment derived from 19 SATs explicitly designed for application by HEIs. The findings reveal that SATs largely neglect the impacts HEIs have outside their organizational boundaries. SATs primarily use proxy indicators based on internally available data to assess impacts and thus tend to focus on themes concerning the natural environment and the contribution to the local economy. Updating existing SATs and developing new ones may enable HEIs to fully realize their potential to contribute to SD.

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Findler & Norma Schönherr & Rodrigo Lozano & Barbara Stacherl, 2018. "Assessing the Impacts of Higher Education Institutions on Sustainable Development—An Analysis of Tools and Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:59-:d:192567
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Abdulaziz Alghamdi & Husnain Haider & Kasun Hewage & Rehan Sadiq, 2019. "Inter-University Sustainability Benchmarking for Canadian Higher Education Institutions: Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows for Technical-Level Decision-Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-26, May.
    5. Eugénia Pedro & Helena Alves & João Leitão, 2024. "Sustainable development practices in public higher education: A new conceptual framework for nurturing student satisfaction and reinforcing attractiveness to international students," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 2565-2582, June.
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    7. Denner Deda & Helena Gervásio & Margarida J. Quina, 2023. "Bibliometric Analysis and Benchmarking of Life Cycle Assessment of Higher Education Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Juan Abello-Romero & Claudio Mancilla & Walter Sáez & Francisco Ganga-Contreras & Ivette Durán-Seguel, 2023. "Sustainable Development and Corporate Sustainability of Chilean State Universities: Evidence from Their Strategic Elements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-16, July.
    9. Anete Veidemane, 2022. "Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education Rankings: Challenges and Opportunities for Developing Internationally Comparable Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    10. Sandra Caeiro & Leyla Angélica Sandoval Hamón & Rute Martins & Cecilia Elizabeth Bayas Aldaz, 2020. "Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    11. Eugénia de Matos Pedro & João Leitão & Helena Alves, 2020. "Bridging Intellectual Capital, Sustainable Development and Quality of Life in Higher Education Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.
    12. Guorui Chen & Li Cheng & Foyuan Li, 2022. "Integrating Sustainability and Users’ Demands in the Retrofit of a University Campus in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Eugénia de Matos Pedro & João Leitão & Helena Alves, 2025. "Students’ satisfaction and empowerment of a sustainable university campus," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 1175-1198, January.
    14. Ting Zhou & Rob Law & Patrick C. Lee, 2021. "Exploring Sustainable Measurements of Academic Research: How Do Faculty Members in Teaching-Oriented Universities of China Evaluate Good Research in Tourism and Hospitality?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    15. Christoph Burmann & Fernando García & Francisco Guijarro & Javier Oliver, 2021. "Ranking the Performance of Universities: The Role of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-16, November.
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