How to Repurpose the University: A Resilience Lens on Sustainability Governance

Abstract

Universities have an important role in moving society towards a more sustainable future. However, this will require us to repurpose universities, reorienting and refocusing the different university domains (education, research, campus, and outreach) towards sustainability. The governance structures and processes used to embed sustainability into the activities and operations of the institution are critical to achieving the required transformation. Our current university systems which are seen as contributing to socio-ecological system unsustainability are resilient to change due to slow variables such as organisational and sector-wide prevailing paradigms and culture. Therefore, to repurpose a university requires us to destabilise our prevailing system, crossing a threshold into a new stable system of a ‘sustainable university' across all its domains. This paper utilises an adaptation of Biggs et al. (2012) resilience principles for the governance of social-ecological systems to provide a framework to consider aspects of university governance for sustainability that can be utilised to repurpose universities towards sustainability, and destabilize unsustainable elements of the system. This paper draws out examples relating to sustainability governance within universities with regards to the four principles of (i) managing diversity and redundancy, (ii) managing connectivity, (iii) managing slow variables and feedbacks, and (iv) encouraging learning and experimentation within the context of complex adaptive systems. In this article, we have shown that using resilience in a non-normative way is possible (to decrease resilience of an unsustainable system), and that it can also be valuable to help understand how to shift organisational governance towards a particular end-state (in this case, university governance that advances sustainability). This paper provides an example of how to operationalise resilience principles of relevance to the resilience literature as well as providing a practical framework to guide higher education institution governance for sustainability.

Research on sustainability leadership in higher education: a scoping review

“…All universities are already expected to strive for economic durability through wise spending, prudent expansion and development of productive relationships with students, alumni, suppliers and employees. However, a sustainable university also prioritizes environmental viability through management of energy consumption, waste management, recycling and green purchasing and managing the supply chain (Robinson and Pedersen, 2021; Saeudy, 2015). Increasingly, sustainability in universities is also being measured through its commitment to social and cultural diversity, not only internally but also in relationships with external stakeholders.…”

“…To date, there is very limited research on the “sustainability outcomes” of HEIs. We wish to highlight two types of sustainability outcomes that seem pertinent to HEIs: institutional resilience and societal resilience (Amaral et al , 2015; Avery and Bergsteiner, 2020; Kantabutra and Saratun, 2013; Robinson and Pedersen, 2021). At the institutional level, a key outcome lies in the development of the university’s capacity to withstand uncertainty and shocks from the external environment.…”

A Wake-up Call: Covid-19 and Its Impact on Reforming Biosciences Education Towards Resiliency and Sustainability

“…Organisational resilience with good team management will ensure sustainable knowledge-based capability, resources availability, social resources, power-based capability, coping capability, adaptation capability and anticipation capability (70). Within the framework of complex adaptive systems, examples of sustainability governance within universities are based on the four concepts of (1) managing variety and redundancy, (2) managing connection, (3) managing slow variables and feedback, and (4) fostering learning and experimentation (74). Financial capacity and sustainability are also a crucial step towards resilience.…”

Science to practice – networked governance of sustainability transitions in an African university

“…Universities can play critical roles as leaders and change drivers in sustainability transitions that keep the planet safe for future generations (Mustafa et al , 2022). Yet, the significance of higher education institutions (HEI) in sustainable development does not reflect in the research literature and the evidence on supporting structures for sustainability governance in universities remains relatively scarce (Niedlich et al , 2020; Robinson and Laycock Pedersen, 2021). That said, this gap is particularly stunning on the African continent, which experiences the world’s most pressing human development challenges and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.…”