Barriers to innovation and sustainability at universities around the world

Abstract

This paper explores the link between innovation and sustainability in the context of higher education, with the purpose of investigating the fundamental barriers for innovation and sustainable development in universities around the world. The method used involves both a quantitative and a qualitative approach, gathering the views of 301 experts from 172 universities across all continents. The results show that there are similar barriers across different geographical regions that require greater support from university administrations and management. In particular, the willingness of leaders, policy makers and decision-makers to envisage a sustainable future inside universities is often missing. Yet, without the support of senior management within a university, bottom-up sustainable initiatives seem destined to fail in the longer term due to a lack of investment and administrative support. This study also identifies that in order to yield the anticipated benefits, barriers need to be tackled in an integrated way, and that closer cooperation between sustainability researchers, university administrations and students is needed.

Identifying and overcoming obstacles to the implementation of sustainable development at universities

“…Progress has been noticeable specifically regarding participation processes (Disterheft et al 2015a(Disterheft et al , 2015b, and barriers to this intervention and to sustainability practices implementation are being addressed by HEIs (e.g. Aleixo et al 2016Aleixo et al , 2017aAleixo et al , 2017bÁvila et al 2017). Verhulst and Lambrechts (2015) provided extensive information and discussion about these barriers, and more recently, Aleixo et al (in press, 2017b) have provided an overview of these barriers.…”

New Dimensions for Circularity on Campus—Framework for the Application of Circular Principles in Campus Development

“…However, the campus should not only be seen as a city, but also jointly with the city [41][42][43]. In terms of new strategies for sustainability, the campus offers itself as an ideal testing ground for the development and implementation of social and technological innovation, enabling universities to expand their innovation potential both inside and outside the campus walls [44]. The tasks of campus management have become increasingly complex over the years; changing structures in funding and rapidly changing themes in research require increasingly flexible housing [45], but university organisations structurally lack the money to invest in the development of their campuses [42].…”

Advance Management Education for Power-Engineering and Industry of the Future

“…Active participation, interdisciplinary teamwork, situation modeling, research, and project training are integral elements of modern management education, which place the main emphasis not so much on the acquisition of knowledge, but on its generation, updating and application. As a result, the role of research in It is natural that, according to experts, bureaucracy was the most critical factor hindering the introduction of innovation in universities; this feature of the university structure is described as a serious barrier to innovation in a number of publications (with [71,72] worth noting as the most fundamental studies of this issue that involve a wide selection of universities). However, it is not less important to involve business in the implementation of advance education projects [73].…”