IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i7p6256-d1116727.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using a Multi-Criteria Ranking Method to Assess Factors Influencing the Implementation of Sustainable Development at Higher Educational Institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Jagoda Mrzygłocka-Chojnacka

    (Faculty of Management, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wyb. Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland)

  • Radosław Ryńca

    (Faculty of Management, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wyb. Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland)

Abstract

Over the last years, there has been a significant increase in interest in sustainable development in higher education institutions, and many have begun to implement sustainable development into their system. Several sustainable development assessment tools have also been developed to help universities systematically measure, monitor, benchmark, communicate, and manage their sustainable development efforts. These efforts have led to mixed results. It seems that one of the main reasons for this situation is the non-systematic and non-holistic approach to implementing sustainable development in universities. Thus, it can be assumed that the implementation of sustainable development in a university should cover all dimensions of its functioning and involve actors within it. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present a tool (inspired by the concept of university sustainability), based on the method of multicriteria rankings, for assessing the factors influencing the implementation of sustainable development in higher education institutions at the level of departments, as relatively autonomous wholes, based on the analysis of departments at one of the leading technical universities in Poland. The proposed tool provides an opportunity for a more holistic view of sustainable development implementation, both by prioritizing factors and by considering that higher education institutions are systems that are, in fact, composed of two distinct but necessarily cooperating subsystems: the academic subsystem and the administrative subsystem. The proposal is preliminary, but it seems that given the relevance and urgency of the sustainable development issue, this is the direction to take in research on sustainable development management in higher education institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jagoda Mrzygłocka-Chojnacka & Radosław Ryńca, 2023. "Using a Multi-Criteria Ranking Method to Assess Factors Influencing the Implementation of Sustainable Development at Higher Educational Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-14, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:7:p:6256-:d:1116727
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6256/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6256/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brian D. Denman, 2005. "What is a University in the 21st Century?," Higher Education Management and Policy, OECD Publishing, vol. 17(2), pages 9-28.
    2. 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.
    3. Raafat Mahmoud Zaini & Oleg V. Pavlov & Khalid Saeed & Michael J. Radzicki & Allen H. Hoffman & Kristen R. Tichenor, 2017. "Let's Talk Change in a University: A Simple Model for Addressing a Complex Agenda," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 250-266, May.
    4. Tomás B. Ramos, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment: Exploring the Frontiers and Paradigms of Indicator Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-14, February.
    5. Göran Finnveden & Julie Newman & Leendert A. Verhoef, 2019. "Sustainable Development and Higher Education: Acting with a Purpose," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-4, July.
    6. Elena De la Poza & Paloma Merello & Antonio Barberá & Alberto Celani, 2021. "Universities’ Reporting on SDGs: Using THE Impact Rankings to Model and Measure Their Contribution to Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-28, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Cottafava, Dario & Ascione, Grazia Sveva & Corazza, Laura & Dhir, Amandeep, 2022. "Sustainable development goals research in higher education institutions: An interdisciplinarity assessment through an entropy-based indicator," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 138-155.
    4. Bach Quang Ho & Yuki Inoue, 2020. "Driving Network Externalities in Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Carolina Feliciana Machado & João Paulo Davim, 2022. "Higher Education for Sustainability: A Bibliometric Approach—What, Where and Who Is Doing Research in This Subject?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Soo Jeung Lee & Christian Schneijderberg & Yangson Kim & Isabel Steinhardt, 2021. "Have Academics’ Citation Patterns Changed in Response to the Rise of World University Rankings? A Test Using First-Citation Speeds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Manuel Muñoz-Suárez & Natividad Guadalajara & José M. Osca, 2020. "A Comparative Analysis between Global University Rankings and Environmental Sustainability of Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Najihath Basheer & Vian Ahmed & Zied Bahroun & Chiraz Anane, 2024. "Exploring Sustainability Assessment Practices in Higher Education: A Comprehensive Review through Content and Bibliometric Analyses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-32, July.
    9. Anirban Chakraborty & Sumit Kumar & L. S. Shashidhara & Anjali Taneja, 2021. "Building Sustainable Societies through Purpose-Driven Universities: A Case Study from Ashoka University (India)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-20, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Olusiji Adebola Lasekan & Felipe Opazo & Claudia Myrna Méndez Alarcón, 2024. "Enhancing Sustainable Development Goal Integration in Chilean Citizenship Education: A Thematic Analysis of Textbook Content and Instructional Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-17, June.
    12. Ludger Niemann & Thomas Hoppe, 2021. "How to Sustain Sustainability Monitoring in Cities: Lessons from 49 Community Indicator Initiatives across 10 Latin American Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, May.
    13. Paolo Esposito & Spiridione Lucio Dicorato, 2020. "Sustainable Development, Governance and Performance Measurement in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs): A Methodological Proposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-25, July.
    14. Carla Barlagne & Mariana Melnykovych & David Miller & Richard J. Hewitt & Laura Secco & Elena Pisani & Maria Nijnik, 2021. "What Are the Impacts of Social Innovation? A Synthetic Review and Case Study of Community Forestry in the Scottish Highlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-25, April.
    15. Hinrika Droege & Andrea Raggi & Tomás B. Ramos, 2021. "Overcoming Current Challenges for Circular Economy Assessment Implementation in Public Sector Organisations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-22, January.
    16. Paulo Peças & Lenin John & Inês Ribeiro & António J. Baptista & Sara M. Pinto & Rui Dias & Juan Henriques & Marco Estrela & André Pilastri & Fernando Cunha, 2023. "Holistic Framework to Data-Driven Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    17. Diego Bonilla-Jurado & Ember Zumba & Araceli Lucio-Quintana & Carlos Yerbabuena-Torres & Andrea Ramírez-Casco & Cesar Guevara, 2024. "Advancing University Education: Exploring the Benefits of Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-27, September.
    18. Mehtab Alam & Fu-Ren Lin, 2022. "Internalizing Sustainability into Research Practices of Higher Education Institutions: Case of a Research University in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-30, August.
    19. Andre C. S. Batalhao & Denilson Teixeira & Maria de Fatima Martins & Hans Michael van Bellen & Adriana Cristina Ferreira Caldana, 2020. "Sustainability Indicators: Relevance, Public Policy Support and Challenges," Journal of Management and Sustainability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(2), pages 173-173, March.
    20. Daniela De Filippo & Javier Benayas & Karem Peña & Flor Sánchez, 2020. "Communication on Sustainability in Spanish Universities: Analysis of Websites, Scientific Papers and Impact in Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-21, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:7:p:6256-:d:1116727. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.