Sustainability curriculum in UK university sustainability reports

One of the major barriers to incorporating sustainability in the HE curriculum is its absence from the university sustainability strategy, the annual reflection of which is the annual sustainability report. While strategies specify targets, reports record what has already been achieved. In that respect, reports function as internally created reviews of universities’ sustainability activity. Various reviews of sustainability teaching activity have taken place in the UK HE sector. The current study attempts to explore formal sustainability teaching provision exclusively through HEIs’ annual sustainability reports. The sample consists of the most recent, whole-institution sustainability reports issued by UK HEIs from 2016 to 2018. An exploratory content analysis identifies sustainability curriculum coverage patterns, using a coding frame based on the STARS framework. Findings suggest that of the 167 UK HEIs 4% report on their sustainability curriculum provision comprehensively. The findings might be of interest to sustainability professionals in the reporting or the curriculum provision end. The study hopes to encourage wider coverage of sustainability curriculum provision in HE sustainability reports

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

SDG 4 quality education: governing education for sustainable development: towards inclusive and equitable quality education

This chapter provides a contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education (SDG 4), through analysing stakeholder partnerships and collaboration for the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It argues that a better understanding of limiting and fostering factors preventing greater collaboration for ESD is required in order to meet the targets set by SDG 4 which advocates for Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education. This chapter provides a multilevel governance analysis (global, national and institutional) on ESD and key stakeholders’ perceptions on limiting and fostering factors in collaborative governance for ESD. This manuscript also increases our understanding of whether ESD policy developed at the international level can be imagined at the national, institutional and local levels and highlights the factors involved in collaboration for ESD. This hopefully helps us understand how to develop rhetoric that can advance from policy to impact. Conclusions drawn from these analyses highlight key inconsistencies and gaps that resulted from incompatible perspectives and motivations for realizing ESD at all levels of governance