Purpose Sustainability has become a global concern to deal with complex and unprecedent survival, social, political and peace issues. Higher education institutions play a key role in this transformation. This paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis by continents of innovation and sustainability barriers in universities. The document also offers opportunities and potential actions for universities to create initiatives to minimize barriers and move towards a sustainable future. Design/methodology/approach To carry out the study, 25 closed questions, composed of a five-point Likert scale, were applied to 283 university representatives (rectors, managers or specialists in the area of innovation and sustainability), to check the degree of application of the questionnaire. Findings From an exploratory statistical analysis, it was found that the main barriers were lacking of planning and focus, lacking of environmental committee, lacking of applicability and continuity of actions and resistance to changes. Among continents, Africa and Oceania presented the best innovation and sustainability indicators in universities. The main approach of this exploratory study on barriers in universities is as an international research, whose findings showed that several barriers currently prevent universities from getting involved in sustainable development efforts. However, as we debate sustainable development, which is gaining momentum, universities are supposed to move forward to overcome barriers for the sake of implementing goals and initiatives. In addition, universities must seize opportunities to contribute through innovation in teaching, research and initiatives to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals. Research limitations/implications This study has two main limitations: first, online research has involved professionals working in the field of sustainable development in higher education. Second, there were no interviews conducted to gather personal information with students and servers. However, the broad scope of the study and its strong international base provide important results that enable the design of an adequate profile of sustainability and innovation challenges that are currently found in universities. Practical implications The study showed that there is lack of knowledge management to connect science, technology, innovation and sustainability, to improve management conditions, innovate, make decisions, support initiatives, create incentives and control mechanisms. Trends suggest that future professional activities involve skills in dealing with complex problems, sometimes in careers and jobs yet to be created. Traditional teaching methods are generally only prepared for routine tasks and for existing jobs, thus requiring the creation of new approaches capable of stimulating creativity and autonomy, which are essential for the present and future demands of innovation and sustainability. Social implications The exploratory study on barriers in universities brings international research as main approach, which made it possible to check that several barriers currently prevent universities from getting involved in sustainable development efforts. However, as we debate sustainable development, which is gaining momentum, it is important that universities should move forward to overcome the barriers to implementation of goals and initiatives. In addition, universities should take advantage of opportunities to contribute through innovation in teaching, research and action to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals. Originality/value Developed countries are leaders in promoting sustainability, while developing or underdeveloped countries are laggards. In this approach, the study sought to verify the differences through a comparative analysis across continents. As for originality and innovation, this paper presents an international study in the view of specialists who respond based on the experience of their university.

Teaching about matters related to sustainable development requires not only a personal motivation from educators, but also a variety of competences. This paper reports on a multicountry study, which aimed at identifying the level of importance given to desired competences on sustainable development by teaching staff at a number of higher education institutions. On the basis of the findings, the paper identifies the gaps and outlines some of the needs which should be addressed, via which competence building may help to foster the educational and societal transformation towards sustainability. The implications of this paper are two-fold. Firstly, it emphasises the value of and the need for competences on sustainable development. Secondly, it illustrates some of the needs which should be met in order to provide a framework among which competences on sustainable development may be further developed.

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Purpose Higher education institutions are widely known both for their promotion to education for sustainable development (ESD) and for their contribution as living labs to urban management strategies. As for strategies, smart and learning campuses have recently gained significant attention. This paper aims to report an air quality monitoring experience with focus on the smart and learning campus and discuss its implications for the university context with regard to ESD and sustainable development goal (SDG) integration. Design/methodology/approach The air quality monitoring was held at the main campus of University of Passo Fundo and focused on three pollutants directly related to vehicle emissions. The air quality index (AQI) was presented on a website, along with information regarding health problems caused by air pollution, main sources of emissions and strategies to reduce it. Findings The results showed how the decrease in air quality is related to the traffic emissions and the fact that exposing students to a smart and learning environment could teach them about sustainability education. Practical implications This case study demonstrated how monitoring air quality in a smart environment could highlight and communicate the impact of urban mobility on air quality and alerted to the need for more sustainable choices, including transports. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by showing the potential of a smart-learning campus integration and its contribution towards the ESD and the UN SDGs.

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