The Concept of Sustainability in the Romanian Top Universities’ Strategic Plans

Abstract

The concept of sustainability has been given more and more attention lately as the effects of climate change drastically impact society and threaten the wellbeing of future generations. In this context, universities are expected to build bridges between the academic and research communities on the one hand and society on the other, and to further the values associated with this concept in order to care for the generations to come. Thus, the present study describes the causes that have led to the emergence of this concept, defines it, and highlights some of the actions taken by universities and researchers. The question raised regards the position of the top Romanian universities towards the concept of sustainability. The way it is used explicitly in their strategic plans is viewed as proof as to whether the universities give it prominence or not, and as such, act accordingly. In order to achieve the primary objective of the research, a quantitative and a qualitative analysis were carried out. The main conclusion drawn is that the top Romanian universities are still at the beginning in terms of raising awareness about the concept and in terms of implementing sustainable measures in the domains that help them build sustainable universities.

A Comparative Analysis of the Use of the Concept of Sustainability in the Romanian Top Universities’ Strategic Plans

“…This conclusion is supported also by other scholars [26,27,50], who additionally consider that the concept of sustainability should be explicitly employed in all the policy documents of the university in order to ensure the acquisition of the concept. Hence, the justification of the quantitative and qualitative linguistic analysis performed on the strategic plans for 2016-2020 of the Romanian top universities [50], which has aimed to identify the explicit use of the concept of sustainability, i.e., all its linguistic embodiments: sustainability, sustainable development (durable development) and sustainable, in order to infer the stance taken by these universities towards sustainability by describing the linguistic context in which they appear and by identifying the domains in which a sustainable university should perform [24], namely, (I) quality teaching, (II) research culture, (III) technological capacity building, (IV) accessibility to university education, (V) community engagement, (VI) internationalization and (VII) natural environment. One of the major concerns revealed by the analysis has referred to the availability of financial resources that may be used to find and implement customed sustainable solutions [50].…”

Analysing Students’ Reasons for Keeping Their Webcams on or off during Online Classes

“…Although there have been numerous studies conducted on various topics related to the polytechnic university environment in Timis , oara, such as migration, student values, the development of the concept of sustainability in the University's strategic plan, the use of educational resources, Artificial Intelligence [AI], etc. [18,[38][39][40], none have addressed the issue of online education, either from the perspective of the students or from that of the teachers. Nevertheless, as there are no studies to be found on the perspective of students' online behaviour regarding choosing not to turn on their webcams, as well as on the usage of webcams and their effect on students' behaviour and impact, the present research aims, on the one hand, to identify the motives that the students at the Politehnica University of Timis , oara have regarding the use of webcams in online classes, whatever their behaviour and, on the other hand, to find solutions to improve the online educational process.…”

Romanian Students’ Environment-Related Routines during COVID-19 Home Confinement: Water, Plastic, and Paper Consumption

“…Even more, environmental sustainability has become a priority for many tertiary institutions and different initiatives have been formulated through declarations to foster sustainable development guidelines on how to incorporate sustainability into the university system [18,70].…”

“…Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020, an event that confined to their homes more than 1.37 billion students of all levels of education, according to the statistics provided by UNESCO [9], studies on students' environment-related behaviors dealt with either their behavior on campus [10], at college or as part of their generation, in the household, from multiple angles-as part of a lifestyle [11], as a consciously adopted choice [12], as perceptions related to sustainability actions in green universities [10], up to behaviors and attitudes on campus [13,14]. Universities also attracted their share of attention, mainly in the form of calls to action under the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme for going green and joining the Green Universities Network (UNEP) [15], or as practices developed on regional or local levels [10,[16][17][18]. The health crisis interrupted much of the habitual academic life and forced universities to focus on their capacity to deliver education and reduce the disruptive force of the pandemic on academic life, by accelerating the adoption of digitalization [19], a topic that was viewed mainly from a technological angle and with an impact on educational practice, but that has a spillover effect on the environmental concerns and greening, if the reduction of physical paper is taken under consideration.…”