Is students’ energy literacy related to their university’s position in a sustainability ranking?

Cotton, Debby; Winter, Jennie; Miller, Wendy; Valle, Luciana Dalla

doi:10.1080/13504622.2017.1395394

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…People & Planet, the largest student network in the UK, campaigning for social and environmental justice has developed one of the most outstanding green rankings ''People & Planet University League.'' This ranking is focusing on a broader measure of environmental and ethical performance, were universities are ranked annually, considering the main sustainable issues (Cotton et al, 2018). According to People & Planet (2019), the rating system is based on 13 dimensions compiled with the information from official university website and Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Estates Management Record (EMR) (see Figure 1).…”

Section: Data Collection and Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

Green Tweets or Not? The Sustainable Commitment of Higher Education Institutions

Alonso-Cañadas,

Saraite-Sariene,

Galán-Valdivieso

et al. 2023

Sage Open

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Higher education organizations are increasingly playing a key role in promoting Sustainable Development within society by disclosing information about applied strategies and achieved sustainable performance via social media. Consequently, platforms like Twitter have evolved into decisive tools for fostering accountability, establishing legitimacy, and displaying engagement to environmental sustainability. First, this paper aims to analyze the impact of published sustainable content on Twitter on the stakeholders’ online engagement level within British green universities ranked by the People & Planet University League. Second, the study intends to investigate the influencing factors that enhance online interactions. To attain the purpose a theoretical framework was established and a text mining analysis of 145,941 tweets was conducted to construct both a sustainable and a general online engagement index. Finally, a multivariate regression analysis was employed to create two models based on content type. The results reveal a heightened interest in engaging with sustainable content shared on the official Twitter profiles of the sampled universities in comparison to general information tweets. Furthermore, the findings indicate that organizational attributes, reputational factors, and considerations related to strategy design and implementation of sustainable policies, along with the sentiment polarity of the disseminated content, contribute to elucidating the attained level of online engagement. These factors work together to involve stakeholders in the pursuit of sustainable development goals within Green Universities.

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Section: Data Collection and Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

Green Tweets or Not? The Sustainable Commitment of Higher Education Institutions

Alonso-Cañadas,

Saraite-Sariene,

Galán-Valdivieso

et al. 2023

Sage Open

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“…Accreditation and ranking regimes should explicitly consider the hidden curriculum (Høgdal et al, 2021) rather than allowing it insidiously to imbue the overall curriculum. This would enable broader visibility and understanding, which might in turn influence positive attitudes towards student experiences (Cotton et al, 2018). Since BS performance is assessed against student satisfaction, the imperatives for understanding and actively considering the role of the hidden curriculum become clear.…”

Section: Symbolizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Principles for (Ir)Responsible Management Education: An exploration of the dynamics of paradox, the hidden curriculum, competencies and symbolization

Smith¹,

Cripps

Stokes

et al. 2023

Management Learning

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This article discusses whether, as academics, we are behaving irresponsibly in the manner in which we deliver the much-vaunted Principles for Responsible Management Education. The Principles for Responsible Management Education constitutes an association and ethos which seeks to promote and infuse responsible management education into business schools and organisations. RME seeks to, inter alia, surface and challenge hegemonic neo-liberal and capitalistic meta-narratives with a view to replacing these with more value-driven, ethical, sustainable and corporately socially responsible education in business schools and business. In our article, we propose a more complementary approach – one in which Principles for Responsible Management Education/RME might work in parallel with dominant capitalistic perspectives. We do this by considering the impact of the hidden curriculum, sustainability competencies and related symbolization (through rankings and accreditations) all within the paradox-explanatory framework of organisational ambidexterity. The argument proposes that a paradoxical approach is needed that is aligned with both the capitalist norms of business society and yet, achieves the more socially orientated United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Business schools and Principles for Responsible Management Education can play an essential role in ensuring this happens. In essence, we hope to provoke thought, change and action towards the achievement of more socially and societally focused United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on which Principles for Responsible Management Education is predicated.

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“…However, decarbonisation activities may go unnoticed by campus inhabitants as there is often little connection between estate developments and educational opportunities. In research at five UK universities by Cotton et al (2018), the majority of students said there was not enough information about energy use on campus, yet over 70% claimed it would make a difference to their energy use if they could see how much was being used. Students consistently responded with “don’t know” when asked whether their university was doing enough to save energy – suggesting that communication of decarbonisation activities was not strong.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate change and the hidden curriculum on campus Climate change is a key issue for present and future generations and young people have been some of the most forthright advocates for climate change mitigation. Student enthusiasm for climate action is strong, and research has indicated clear demands for sustainability to be included in university teaching (Drayson, 2015) as well as calls for institutions to take a stronger role in energy saving (Cotton et al, 2018). Energy issues have become a major concern for university leaders in the context of climate change mitigation (Suwartha and Sari, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual images of sustainability in higher education: the hidden curriculum of climate change on campus

Cotton

Winter

Allison

et al. 2023

IJSHE

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Purpose Perceptions of climate change are strongly influenced by visual cues and images. Many universities have made significant steps towards decarbonisation, yet these often remain hidden from the campus community. This study aims to explore the hidden curriculum of climate change on campus and compare participants’ images of sustainability on campus with those on university websites. Design/methodology/approach This research was underpinned by a critical realist perspective using innovative visual research methods including auto-photography and photo-elicitation to enable deep understanding of perceptions of sustainability and climate change on campus. Grounded visual pattern analysis (GVPA) was used to analyse campus photos and compare them to images used on university websites. Findings Findings suggest that staff and student images more strongly encapsulated tensions between humans and nature than website photos, but that the latter included more evidence of social sustainability. Neither image set expressed climate change issues effectively; the invisibility of university decarbonisation activities represents a lost opportunity for learning. Originality/value This research uses novel visual methodologies and analysis (GVPA) with potential for wider use in sustainability research. This study offers new insights into the importance of the hidden curriculum of sustainability in higher education and the difficulties of making climate change visible on campus.

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Is students’ energy literacy related to their university’s position in a sustainability ranking?

Cited by 15 publications

References 31 publications

Green Tweets or Not? The Sustainable Commitment of Higher Education Institutions

Green Tweets or Not? The Sustainable Commitment of Higher Education Institutions

The Principles for (Ir)Responsible Management Education: An exploration of the dynamics of paradox, the hidden curriculum, competencies and symbolization

Visual images of sustainability in higher education: the hidden curriculum of climate change on campus

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