Sustainability governing entities in higher education throughout Chile

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a panoramic and systematic view of 10 Sustainable Campus Network (SCN) universities’ internal entities in charge of the sustainability effort – such as offices, committees, units, programs, or other, showing how some institutions have gained increasing deployment and momentum. However, their appearance and growth pathways have had significant disparities. Design/methodology/approach Global and local agendas have had a strong influence on Chilean higher education institutions. A relevant signal has been the creation of the SCN, formed by 21 Chilean universities, whose vision is to help shape a fair and environmentally healthy civilization contributing from the higher education realm. This work adopts a survey design methodological approach. It describes the following resulting components obtained from the aggregated data: (a) emergence processes and environments, (b) governance models and operational mechanisms, (c) networks and collaboration, and (d) final products generated, for sustainability governing entities within universities in Chile. Findings The main findings indicate that at the institutional level, the Cleaner Production Agreement for higher education institutions and the creation of the SCN have been key drivers in the formalization of several entities leading the sustainability efforts within Chilean universities. Also, regarding the degree of commitment to sustainability, the most active internal stakeholder corresponds to students. Originality/value The present work represents a pioneering effort in the Chilean context to identify and systematize the challenges, organizational structures, and key accomplishments of sustainability governing entities in higher education nationwide.

Carbon emissions measurement as intra-action: incentives to disclose air emissions at a Canadian university

“…Zahid et al (2021) suggest an altruistic view, where HEIs replicate what corporations do in part as self-motivated and in part because they are forced to adhere to regulations and national and transnational initiatives. Whereas Mac-lean et al (2021) elaborate on the social pressure for HEIs to embark on sustainability initiatives, Macheridis and Paulsson (2021) refer to responsibilization and accountabilization as the process by which HEIs incorporate sustainability initiatives. In their view, the implementation of initiatives and the disclosures by HEIs is largely driven by altruistic reasons or simply social pressure with no monetary impact.…”

“…Zahid et al (2021) take metrics as given and integrate them in a system to determine if three universities analyzed are performing well or not. Mac-lean et al (2021) explain that Chilean universities operate under an agreement launched by the national government that has 11 categories and 60 goals with metrics that are additive and comparable among institutions. Roos and Guenther (2020) focus on the management process but, like all other authors, take for granted the measurement outcomes.…”

Plano de gestão de logística sustentável para uma instituição de ensino superior: um plano de ações

“…Seguindo-se para a etapa de planejamento, Garlet et al (2018) propõem uma política institucional estruturada junto a um setor que administre as questões ambientais em nível estratégico. Machado et al (2013), Werle, Almeida e Walder (2016) e Mac-lean et al (2020) afirmam, em seus estudos, que as instituições que mantém um departamento específico para cuidar de sustentabilidade, priorizam a Gestão Ambiental e apresentam um nível de adoções de práticas mais elevado.…”