The promotion of sustainable development in higher education institutions: top-down bottom-up or neither?

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the sustainability approach within higher education institutions. Universities, as institutions of knowledge, play an important and strategic role in maximizing social and economic benefits in a hands-on way. However, some studies on sustainable development and HEIs reveal a distancing between students and the application of sustainable initiatives in universities. This fact differs from the premises of the Talloires Declaration, which points to students as a community and as global leaders and ambassadors for sustainability. Design/methodology/approach This paper mapped the approaches, present in the literature, used to develop sustainable campuses and in particular the apparent dichotomy between the changes indicated as top-down or bottom-up in HEIs. To that end, scientific articles focused on sustainable actions in HEIs were analyzed to identify implementation approaches for sustainable development and student involvement in the process. Findings Results have shown that sustainability promotion models in universities generally occur in a top-down manner, where students are receptors and not sources of development for sustainable policies in universities. Thus, the authors highlight the importance of students becoming central players in sustainable initiatives. Originality/value The article becomes original when it identifies the dichotomy between top-down and bottom-up approaches. It does so through multidimensional scaling and exploratory factorial analysis in scientific articles on the topic Sustainability Funding in Higher Education. These findings show that, unlike what is discussed in the literature, sustainability promotion in universities generally occurs in a top-down manner, where students are receptors and not active agents in promoting sustainability. In response to this, the authors discussed the importance of the bottom-up approach, where they are key players.

Práticas sustentáveis no manejo do efluente produzido em Instituição de Educação Superior

“…O baixo conhecimento e interesse pelo tema de modo geral pode estar ligado ao fato de a discussão sobre o efluente estar restrita a poucos especialistas e responsáveis. Um estudo feito na Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (UNISUL) mostrou que a promoção de práticas sustentáveis no ambiente acadêmico tende a ocorrer na abordagem top-down, na qual o corpo estudantil desempenha um papel mais receptor das políticas ambientais do que atua para a sua proposição e desenvolvimento (Mazon et al, 2020). Outro estudo feito na Rússia ratificou que políticas e práticas ambientais são desconhecidas pela maioria estudantil universitária.…”

“…A abordagem top-down tende a focar em melhorias operacionais referentes a regulações e requerimentos burocráticos e pode garantir a adoção de práticas sustentáveis e a sua difusão, visando o cumprimento de normas pela comunidade universitária. Entretanto, o processo de implementação e a chegada de informação aos acadêmicos podem ser lentos devido aos percursos burocráticos (Mazon et al, 2020). Já a abordagem bottom-up, a partir de iniciativas de estudantes, pode resultar da percepção de problemas, proposição de alternativas criativas e participação nas decisões, contribuindo de forma estratégica para a sustentabilidade nas esferas social, econômica e ambiental (Flood et al, 2013;Brandli et al, 2015).…”

Learning Approaches and Coping with Academic Stress for Sustainability Teaching: Connections through Canonical Correspondence Analysis

“…Universities play an important role in integrating the basic goals of sustainability development in society [1]. They are contributors of new sustainable solutions for both society and the planet [2,3] and new knowledge such as sustainability [4]. Therefore, Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Higher Education (ESHE) has been increasing society's awareness and is a key enabler for sustainable development and an integral element of quality education [5].…”

Promotion Mix Nahdlatul Ulama University of Surabaya to Increase New Student’s Interest

“…PTNU has gained the competitiveness to gain trust from the community in various ways, including conducting a promotional -boom‖ so the wider community knows UNUSA. Promotion strategies at universities are the -spearhead‖ to disseminate this institution to a broad audience (Mazon et al, 2020). Promotion is an effort to -brand‖ universities to get a -name‖ in society (Veletsianos et al, 2017).…”