International Trends and Practices on Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education Institutions

Sustainability reports are regarded as important tools in offering information about the environmental, social, economic, and institutional performance of an institution, and in demonstrating a commitment to matters related to sustainable development. But even though sustainability reporting has been used by a variety of higher education institutions to date, it is not as widely practiced as it should be. To further investigate this topic, a twofold approach was used: a study focusing on sustainability reporting approaches deployed in a sample of 30 universities across a set of countries; and a survey with a sample of 72 universities from different global regions to assess the extent to which they are deploying sustainability reporting as part of their activities. The scientific value of the paper resides in the fact that it offers a comprehensive overview of the subject matter of sustainability reporting, and how higher education institutions handle it. It also outlines the efforts in developing these documents which may catalyse further progress in this key area

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

Umidificador de Ar

Manter a umidade relativa do ar adequada, diminuir os casos de problemas respiratórios e deixar o ambiente com um aroma agradável por conta de essências aromáticas são as propostas bases do projeto integrador em desenvolvimento. Segundo Oliveira (2012, p. 13), “a resolução Nº 9 de 2003 da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA), em um ambiente climatizado artificialmente, de uso público e coletivo, a faixa recomendável de operação da umidade relativa do ar e temperatura, nas condições internas para verão, deverá variar de 40% a 65% e 23°C a 26°C, respectivamente. Para condições internas para inverno, a faixa recomendável de operação deverá variar de 35% a 65% e 26,5°C a 27°C.” Devido às afirmações acima mencionadas, para a construção do protótipo foi utilizado certos utensílios caseiros e outros específicos, adquiridos através de compras online, como por exemplo: placa eletrônica com entrada micro USB, atuador ultrassônico e cabos/fiação em geral. Já os materiais que encontramos no dia a dia detectados nas residências dos alunos, também exercem papel essencial na composição do protótipo, servindo de exemplos um vidro de conserva com tampa, dois parafusos para estabelecer uma fixação adequada, pedaços de tampas de canetas para evitar a ocorrência de possíveis curtocircuitos, fitas, colas, entre outros mais. O funcionamento do equipamento dá-se com a adição de água no pote que, em contato com o canudo, é absorvida e conduzida até a parte superior do pote, entrando em contato direto com o atuador ultrassônico, onde o líquido transforma-se em névoa através das vibrações causadas pelo atuador a partir do momento em que o mesmo é acionado por um botão na placa, após ser ligada na tomada. É possível afirmar que, com o andamento das pesquisas e do projeto em si, a umidade relativa do ar realmente é um fator importante que deve ser considerado. De contrapartida, o conjunto pesquisa/protótipo poderá servir de incentivo para talvez num futuro próximo, colaborar para a construção de um desumidificador de ar. Até o presente momento, foi obtido como ponto positivo a vivência e a relação nas áreas do curso de eletromecânica juntamente com a confecção do umidificador de ar

Implementing Innovation on Environmental Sustainability at Universities Around the World

Innovation is known to be an important and influential factor in fostering sustainable development. Yet, there is a paucity of literature on the extent to which universities are successfully implementing innovation in this field. This paper addresses this gap, by examining the role of innovation in the field of environmental sustainability in universities, and by reporting on the results of an international study, in which examples of successful experiences and good practice were identified. The paper outlines the lessons learned from such examples, with the aim of motivating other universities to engage in this rapidly-growing field

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

Governance and sustainable development at higher education institutions

© 2020, Springer Nature B.V. Governance issues, here interpreted as the provisions of adequate policy frameworks characterized by reliability and accountability, coupled with resources to support their implementation, are known to be the basis for the implementation of sustainable development measures. This paper discusses the influence of governance in the ways sustainability is perceived and practiced in a higher education context. Apart from due considerations to the role of governance as the basis for regulation and institutional actions and management decisions, this paper reports on an empirical study undertaken in a sample of higher education institutions. This study entailed an analysis of sustainable development policies, certification, organizational structure, budget, reports, team for sustainability, staff training, and challenges for the integration of sustainability and governance. The results suggest that even though there are different opinions and attitudes on the role of governance, it is regarded as an important component in supporting efforts by higher education institutions to include considerations on sustainable development as part of their strategies

Towards symbiotic approaches between universities, sustainable development, and cities

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Universities are key actors and play a central role in the cities which host them, either as employers, consumers or simply as a magnet to young people and cultural activities. They can be also infuencers and supporters of cities in the feld of sustainable development. Through an exploratory method and aiming to explore the eforts deployed to foster closer links between universities, sustainable development, and cities and address a literature gap in this regard, this study considers the contribution of universities to sustainable development at the city level. Based on some of the ongoing initiatives worldwide and an international online survey documenting measures undertaken, this study translates the commitment to pursuing sustainable development within cities, with responses from a sample of 45 countries. This study lists some items which may help foster more symbiotic relations between cities and universities. The fndings of this study may be used as baselines for strengthening the connections between universities and cities in addressing the sustainable development challenges, as demonstrated through the responses obtained. Accordingly, some suggested actions involving cooperation may include increased communication with city stakeholders and the undertaking of joint initiatives and projects, taking advantage of the ongoing sustainable development challenges worldwide.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

SUSTENTABILIDADE NO CURSO DE ADMINISTRAÇÃO: ENSINO É REFLETIDO NO ENADE?

After several worldwide environmental catastrophes and unending discussions about the need of a more sustainable development, many organizations are concerned about sustainability and perceived its importance for a better company performance. In this sense, the way this topic of sustainability is inserted on educational training of new leaders is a preoccupation on teaching process of Business Management courses in Brazil. Besides, Brazilian governm ent enforces this insertion as per the National Curricular Directive for the Environmental Education (Resolution no. 02/2012 – CNE/CP), replying a demand from both society and market / organization. In this way, higher education institutions (HEI) embody s ustainability in its Pedagogical Course Project (PPC in Portuguese) of Business Management in a transversal form, as a content component of curriculum or by their combination. As this is a new topic and having a demand from the market for trained leaders i n sustainability, this paper evaluated, based on results of ENADE test from 2012 specific for the Business Management Courses, if the students who finished the Course in that year and performed the test knew topics regarding sustainability. This research i s performed with communication modality, descriptive type, bibliographic and documental nature, used the collection of secondary data as method for data collection. With the use of descriptive statistics and means comparison, the performance of HEIs was ex plored by different perspectives, evidencing that sustainability is still not consolidated on future leaders training, showing a certain fragility in relation to the comprehension of students about business and sustainability. Suggestions for future studie s are indicated to improve the founded results

Author Correction: Towards symbiotic approaches between universities, sustainable development, and cities

Correction to: Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15717-2, published online 06 July 2022. The original version of this Article omitted an affiliation for the corresponding author Amanda Lange Salvia. The correct affiliations are listed below: Graduate Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Passo Fundo, Campus I - BR 285, São José, Passo Fundo, RS, 99052-900, Brazil; European School of Sustainability Science and Research, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Ulmenliet 20, D-21033, Hamburg, Germany. The original Article has been corrected