Mapping sustainability initiatives in higher education institutions in Latin America

Many higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world are involved in a variety of sustainability initiatives. These are acknowledged to be important elements in fostering the cause of sustainability in HEIs, in further developing the organizations’ culture and in acting as enablers in the institutional embedding of sustainability. But despite the relevance of sustainability initiatives, there is a lack of systematic international efforts in how best to map them, especially in Latin America. On the basis of the need to address this gap, this paper reports on the results of an empirical study, aimed at analyzing the current status of sustainability initiatives among Latin American HEIs. Apart from a review of the latest literature, an international survey was performed to design a model using principal component analysis to identify the main descriptors of sustainability initiatives among Latin American HEIs and also the major drivers and challenges. The study sheds some light on the ways universities perceive and handle sustainability-related initiatives. The results show that sustainability is being incorporated in more than 80% of the sampled universities, and that a special emphasis is being given to campus operations. The value of the paper resides on the fact that it one of the few papers that have holistically investigated trends in sustainable development across universities in Latin America. The implications of the study are twofold. It maps for the first time how sustainable development initiatives are being practiced in 157 universities in 13 countries, being one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, and it also outlines some of the main challenges that universities in the region face. The central message of this paper is that the different levels of emphasis given to SD in Latin American universities need to be better understood in order to catalyze continued and long-term actions

University teaching staff and sustainable development: an assessment of competences

Teaching about matters related to sustainable development requires not only a personal motivation from educators, but also a variety of competences. This paper reports on a multi-country study, which aimed at identifying the level of importance given to desired competences on sustainable development by teaching staff at a number of higher education institutions. On the basis of the findings, the paper identifies the gaps and outlines some of the needs which should be addressed, via which competence building may help to foster the educational and societal transformation towards sustainability. The implications of this paper are twofold. First, it emphasises the value of and the need for competences on sustainable development. Second, it illustrates some of the needs which should be met to provide a framework among which competences on sustainable development may be further developed

Promoting gender equality across the sustainable development goals

Gender issues, and gender equality in particular, can be regarded as cross-cutting issues in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), even though it is unclear how they are taken into account. This study addresses this information gap by performing an assessment of the emphasis on gender issues across all the other 16 SDGs, in addition to SDG5, through a literature review and case study analysis, the basis for the newly developed framework, highlighting specific actions associated to each SDG. The 13 countries addressed in the 16 case studies include China, India, or Australia and illustrate the inclusion of SDG5 into the SDGs. Using an SDG matrix, the SDG targets are analysed. Those where an emphasis on gender equality is important in allowing them to be achieved are listed. The novelty of our approach resides in offering an in-depth analysis of how gender issues interact with the other SDGs, proposing a new analysis framework clearly identifying SDGs 1, 4, 11, 12, 14 and 16 demanding further attention for successful SD gender implementation and illustrating specific areas where further actions may be necessary, which may be used by policy-makers, raising further awareness on gender equality contribution to achieve the SDGs. A set of recommendations aimed at placing gender matters more centrally in the SDGs delivery are presented as a final contribution. These focus on the need for greater awareness and attention to good practices, to achieve successful implementation initiatives.peer-reviewe

Promoting gender equality across the sustainable development goals.

Gender issues, and gender equality in particular, can be regarded as cross-cutting issues in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), even though it is unclear how they are taken into account. This study addresses this information gap by performing an assessment of the emphasis on gender issues across all the other 16 SDGs, in addition to SDG5, through a literature review and case study analysis, the basis for the newly developed framework, highlighting specific actions associated to each SDG. The 13 countries addressed in the 16 case studies include China, India, or Australia and illustrate the inclusion of SDG5 into the SDGs. Using an SDG matrix, the SDG targets are analysed. Those where an emphasis on gender equality is important in allowing them to be achieved are listed. The novelty of our approach resides in offering an in-depth analysis of how gender issues interact with the other SDGs, proposing a new analysis framework clearly identifying SDGs 1, 4, 11, 12, 14 and 16 demanding further attention for successful SD gender implementation and illustrating specific areas where further actions may be necessary, which may be used by policy-makers, raising further awareness on gender equality contribution to achieve the SDGs. A set of recommendations aimed at placing gender matters more centrally in the SDGs delivery are presented as a final contribution. These focus on the need for greater awareness and attention to good practices, to achieve successful implementation initiatives. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10668-022-02656-1

Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into the strategy of higher education institutions

Despite the relevance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the fact that universities may make valuable contributions towards their implementation, there is a paucity of international studies which may allow an assessment of their degree of engagement or their performance against the SDGs. This paper reports on an international study among a sample of 128 members of higher education institutions (HEIs) located in 28 countries, which aimed at ascertaining the extent to which the SDGs are being integrated into the strategy of HEIs. The focus of this paper is on the means which have been deployed by various universities in order to embed or include the SDGs in their activities. More specifically, this paper explores 1) the scope of integration, 2) the organisational influences, and 3) strategic influencing factors. The research identified the fact that, whereas many organisations are aware of the need for and the relevance of sustainable development and consider it as part of their institutional settings, the same cannot be said for the SDGs, whose level of emphasis is that many HEIs are comparatively somewhat limited. In addition, there seems to be a shortage of training opportunities focusing on the SDGs, which could equip university staff to handle this topic. Against this background, the paper describes some measures that may be implemented to make the SDGs more present in HEI programmes, hence maximising their contribution to addressing the global sustainability challenges

Moving from conventional plastics to sustainable solutions : assessing human willingness to change current practices

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International trends on transformative learning for urban sustainability

Abstract It is widely assumed that transformative societal action is required to address the world's many sustainability challenges of today. This is especially true in an urban context, since urban sustainability may assist in improving the conditions of the urban environment and the quality of life of humans. Nevertheless, and despite the many advantages that urban sustainability may bring about, there is a need for studies that look at the role that transformative learning may play in influencing it. This study will address this need. It provides an analysis of the subject matter of transformative learning and how it may be practised and experienced in an urban context, thus contributing to urban sustainability in practical terms. It reports on a survey specifically directed to the teaching staff, on the extent to which transformative learning is being deployed in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in supporting urban sustainability efforts. In addition, the study ends by listing and presenting examples of approaches, methods, and initiatives in transformative learning within an urban sustainability context, and provides an analysis of its main features and learned lessons. It concludes with some best practices for transformative learning that could assist in designing and implementing urban sustainability teaching at HEIs, on a broader scale. It can be stated that not only can sustainability thought improve the urban conditions, but as the developing world gets further urbanised, sustainability in the urban context specifically becomes a matter of particular relevance

Digital transformation and sustainable development in higher education in a post-pandemic world

Digital technologies are now part of our daily lives, and the speed of their implementation and use has been accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital transformation, seen in the past as a problem, is now perceived as an important component in the future of sustainable development (SD), especially at higher education institutions whose operations have been adversely affected by the pandemic in many ways. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the subject matter of digital transformation and how it relates to a SD context. It reports on the results of a worldwide survey at higher education institutions, which identified some areas where the pandemic impacted and/or influenced their activities. The survey received 158 responses and a principal component analysis was performed to model the items associated with digital tools boosting SD, innovative business opportunities and ideas, and needs for improvement at HEIs. The results indicate that most part of the respondents developed digital skills and increased their involvement with e-learning and distance learning; however, more digital training is needed. Findings also support the role played by digital technologies in boosting SD at HEIs, and the role of institutions in promoting innovation through digital tools. Apart from an analysis of the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to digital transformation in an SD context in higher education institutions, the paper provides an assessment of trends and recommendations that may guide future developments in a post-pandemic work

The pulsating White Dwarf G117-B15A : still the most stable optical clock known

The pulsating hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf star G 117-B15A has been observed since 1974. Its main pulsation period at 215.19738823(63) s, observed in optical light curves, varies by only (5.12 ± 0.82) × 10−15 s s−1 and shows no glitches, as pulsars do. The observed rate of period change corresponds to a change of the pulsation period by 1 s in 6.2 million yr. We demonstrate that this exceptional optical clock can continue to put stringent limits on fundamental physics, such as constraints on interaction from hypothetical dark matter particles, as well as to search for the presence of external substellar companions