Interdependencies of Culture and Functions of Sustainability Governance at Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Sustainable development practices in higher education institutions are diverse, with regard not only to the types of challenges that have to be addressed, but also to the forms of sustainability governance adopted by individual higher education institutions. This paper aims to reflect on the aspects of organizational culture that are particularly crucial for the implementation of sustainable practices at higher education institutions. Specifically, it addresses the research question: how do different organizational cultures affect approaches to sustainability governance at higher education institutions (HEIs)? It reflects on data from multi-case studies at eleven German higher education institutions. Four of the cases are analyzed in this paper to draw out the insights they offer on how organizational culture shapes the institutions’ approach to sustainable development. A governance equalizer is used as a functional framework for evaluating and discussing the influence of different cultural orientations on sustainability governance. In addition to providing many insights and findings in relation to specific cases, comparison of the different institutions, their governance structures and their cultures of sustainable development helps to emphasize that there is no single cultural factor that can be identified as directly promoting particular governance structures. Rather, there is an active interplay between cultural orientations, which influence, and are also influenced by, the measures deployed. Such influence is not instantly apparent but needs time to develop, and it evolves in a variety of ways as illustrated by the case studies.

University 4.0: Promoting the Transformation of Higher Education Institutions toward Sustainable Development

“…The map is currently being reprogrammed to include a novel search and database feature, enabling users to display, for example, all best-practices dealing with education for SD or SD governance (see [90] for the URL). As HOCH-N was not only set up as a network but also as a research alliance, the project has also produced substantial results in six different fields of action: reporting [91], governance [7,9,92,93], teaching & education [94,95], research [62,96], operations [97,98], and transfer [99,100]. The six corresponding work packages have published practitioner's guides (see references above), available free of charge as print versions and PDFs (currently, only the guide on sustainability governance is available in English).…”

Sustainability Governance at Higher Education Institutions: Equipped to Transform?

“…We support this concept and would suggest the adoption of an "all-dimensions approach, " namely one that integrates the multiple dimensions of SD and is based on a common understanding between all those developing crosssectoral measures. This broadens perspectives and opens up opportunities to engage an even greater variety of stakeholders (Bauer et al, 2020).…”

Ejes claves del modelo educativo socioformativo para la formación universitaria en el marco de la transformación hacia el desarrollo social sostenible

“…Aunque diversas universidades integraron en su modelo educativo el enfoque de competencias y los cuatro aprendizajes clave de Delors (1996) (aprender a conocer, aprender a hacer, aprender a ser y aprender a convivir), esto casi no se aborda en la práctica (Guzmán, 2017;Martínez et al, 2017). Es por ello urgente el cambio en la cultura universitaria, de tal manera que la formación sea para el desarrollo social sostenible (Bauer et al, 2020).…”

“…Las IES son organizaciones en las cuales se tiene una cultura de trabajo que en muchos casos es implícita, y esta cultura orienta las actuaciones de los diferentes actores respecto al proceso de formación, evaluación del aprendizaje, investigación, vinculación con la comunidad y gestión (Bauer et al, 2020;Ortiz-Colón et al, 2017). Para poder generar cambios perdurables, es esencial comprender la cultura que prevalece, reconocer sus logros pero también identificar sus áreas de oportunidad, y con base en ello poner en funcionamiento mejoras y cambios a través del trabajo participativo de la comunidad académica, mediante el seguimiento, los planes de acción a largo plazo, la introducción de cambios paulatinos, la promoción de los logros y la valoración del trabajo de los actores involucrados (Ambrosio, 2018;Bauer et al, 2020;Ortiz-Colón et al, 2017). Es preciso reconocer la resistencia al cambio y cómo afrontarla, empleando diversas estrategias construidas en el ámbito de las organizaciones sociales, empresariales, culturales, científicas y tecnológicas.…”