Sustainable Development in Damascus University: A Survey of Internal Stakeholder Views

Abstract

In our days, the sustainable development concept has trendy become a necessity in pedagogy. The campus is not only a fashion of an engineering design but also a place for sustainable learning put into practice. In view of the fact that the United Nations Declaration on the Environment focuses on the concept of sustainability in higher education since 1972 considering a sustainable campus formulation which has been increasingly attracting international attentions. This research tries to profoundly observe the evaluation of the sustainability of a campus taking Damascus University as a case study. Semistructured interviews with key informant stakeholders were executed to define critical factors of sustainable campus development. The weightings of these key factors were established by using the analytic network process method. These findings were provided useful inputs for future endeavors of sustainable university development which would contribute towards responses to rapid urbanization. IntroductionThe higher education sector plays a significant role in achieving a more sustainable future as students become future leaders, technical staff or the backbone of social work depending on what they learned will directly affect their future decisions on social sustainable development (SD) [1]. It is not unusual that university campus occupies considerable land at either urban or regional areas. Moreover, universities play an important role in our society in terms of sustainable technology studies providing opportunities tackle environmental issues. Sustainability initiatives have been taken up by an increasing number of colleges and universities around the world [2] so many universities bear obligations to contribute toward SD [3].The Stockholm Declaration (1972) was the first attempt introducing principles of SD into the higher education sector. This was followed by constant efforts and initiatives such as the Talloires Declaration (1990), the Halifax Declaration (1991), the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) (1992) and the Swansea Declaration (1993). Along with a broader coverage of topics ranging from campus operation to community engagement, all these Declarations and Initiatives served similar purposes, i.e. promoting the development of sustainable campuses [4]. In addition, a growing number of universities over the world have signed these international declarations that are then reflected in the sustainability initiatives [5].As an example in this connection, the Syrian government has released a number of policies to promote SD in the higher education sector. As specified in the Program of Action for National Environmental Publicity and Education, higher education institutions are encouraged to implement green university initiatives, e.g. incorporating environmental sustainability into curricula. A series of technical guidelines and management measures were released in order to facilitate this process. These include opinions on promoting the resource efficient campus developm...

An evaluation of public initiatives to change behaviours that affect water quality

“…This paucity of assessments represents a deficiency in the literature. Many published behavioural change studies are either lab‐based or random controlled trials, whereas the ORB‐type interventions are less amenable to such assessments, as whole communities are involved in the interventions (Aljerf & Choukaife, 2016; Axon et al, 2018; Espinosa & Walker, 2013). Another gap in the literature is quantifying the extent to which behavioural change initiatives are effective over extended periods.…”

Towards a risk-adjusted tourism and travel competitiveness index

“…In this framework, research to date has centered the attention on crisis management and disaster risk reduction plans to prepare, protect, and rebuild a destination after a disaster (Aljerf and Choukaife, 2016) but also in the demand quantification of the effects of different disasters (Jin et al, 2019; Rosselló et al, 2020) evidencing the relationship between disasters and the drop in tourism activity. Thus, the perception of safety is an important aspect of destination image, and different types of risks and events have been studied in the context of visitor travel information seeking and decision-making (Sharifpour et al, 2014; Trumbo et al, 2016; Williams and Baláz, 2015).…”