Teaching Digital Sustainability in Higher Education from a Transdisciplinary Perspective

Sustainability is gaining importance in society, government, and the economy, particularly during today’s rapidly changing environment, due to digitalization and digital transformation. Awareness, as well as systematic and critical thinking, are crucial to address the great societal challenges postulated within the SDGs, and thus should be reflected in contemporary education. Consequently, higher educational institutions face a high level of responsibility to prepare their students properly. Postgraduate programmes for professional training, in particular, have great potential, as the in-depth work experience of students can be leveraged to engage with them as co-leaders towards sustainable solutions in the digital age, from a transdisciplinary perspective. Thus, this paper introduces a teaching framework for digital sustainability in higher education under the light of transdisciplinarity. The framework and its inherent methods are discussed, followed by an exploratory analysis, covering the experiences of over 100 students over the course of two years in a postgraduate master’s programme. We present the results of the students’ learning and ideation process towards digital products/services to tackle challenges within the SDGs. In addition, we provide a critical reflection of prerequisites for teaching the framework, challenges experienced during teaching, and potential solutions, as well as ideas towards the future expansion of the framework.

Exploring fields of ambiguity in the sustainability transition of universities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that systematically captures the ambiguity of different understandings about science, the university and its relation to society, while conceptualising sustainability. Following Corley and Gioia (2004, p. 174) on identity ambiguity and change, it seems pivotal to better understanding the ambiguity of sustainability in relation to academic cultures and university models to manage the transition more effectively. Design/methodology/approach The nature of this paper’s objectives as well as the wide thematic scope leads to the need of exploring a broad knowledge base. This was best addressed by an exploratory literature review with data collection from primary and secondary sources. The data was interpreted through a hermeneutic analysis and resulted in the inductive development of first categories and goals (further referred to as category development). In addition, a multi-method approach further adjusted the categories and raised their empirical validity and social robustness. Findings Implementing sustainability involves dealing with a double bound ambiguity due to organisational and individual identity reasons. Five fields of ambiguity were developed to systemise the conceptualisation of a sustainable university along contradictory understandings of science, the university and sustainability. These fields offer a framework to qualitatively assess the degree of sustainability in higher education institutions. Arguments for and against sustainability in universities have been categorised around five criteria and associated to the fields of ambiguity. The finding indicates that meaning in organisational change management for sustainability can be considered both, a potential driver and barrier for a sustainability transition in universities. Research limitations/implications This paper exclusively focussed on the internal perspective and left aside any external factors that influence the sustainability transition, such as political measures to stimulate sustainability in higher education. In addition, the operational dimension of a sustainable university has been neglected, which is by all means a necessary and important aspect. The interrelation of the identified goals has not been discussed. Originality/value This paper focusses on the conceptualisation and understanding of sustainability within the institution, an often-forgotten but fundamental aspect of implementation. The fields of ambiguity are designed to be applied for assessing the “degree of maturity” of a sustainable university. The fields reveal the different understandings about the role, the mission and the governance of universities, stemming from competing preferences about goals and their assumed relations by various stakeholders of a higher education institutions. The five fields are not an attempt to resolve the hidden contradictions and tensions in a sustainability transition, but to state them clearly to anticipate resistances and conflicts that hinder the development of a shared understanding.

Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions (HEI): Merging the Study Systematic Review, Analysis Content and Bibliometrics

This study aims to explore how the topic of sustainability in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) has been addressed in the scientific literature. It presents a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1975 and 2019. After that, bibliometric and content analyses were performed in order to identify the behavior and evolution of the literature and identify the frequency with which they appear in the text, making it possible to raise replicable and valid inferences to the data. The results of this study indicate that the theme is emerging since the year 2010 and with a strong focus on qualitative studies, focused on critical theory. The results indicate that although studies involve the tripod environment, economy, and society, there is still a gap in studies that deal with specific issues to solve practical problems and that analyze the impacts from a more holistic perspective. The combination of methods made it possible to identify and interpret the articles in the selected sample, but based on results reported by other authors, with little room for quality control and integrity.

A Dialogical Approach to Readiness for Change towards Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions: The Case of the SDGs Seminars at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

The transformation for sustainability requires a paradigm shift towards systems thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration, which entails, above all, a process of cultural change affecting individual mindsets, organizations and society as a whole. Sustainability in higher education institutions (HEIs) has been a recurrent research field in the past decades. However, little attention has been paid to the processes of internal and cultural change and, in particular, to the first steps to prepare academic communities for change. Understanding “readiness for change” as a core organizational competency to overcome continuous environmental changes and considering the diluted hierarchy at HEIs, this article proposes the adoption of dialogical and developmental approaches in a single action case, the SDGs Seminars at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. This methodology was used to diagnose organizational and individual readiness for change considering cognitive, affective and behavioural components, and to identify consequences in organizational structures and culture. Our findings reveal that reframing dialogical spaces in HEIs to experience a collaborative and sustainability culture can unlock change, breaking down organizational silos, reducing resistances and engaging academic communities in the cocreation of institutional strategies. Furthermore, the case suggests that acting at the group level has impacts both on the individual and institutional levels.

Students’ Perception about Sustainability in the Engineering School of Bilbao (University of the Basque Country): Insertion Level and Importance

Almost three decades have passed since the Rio declaration, and after numerous initiatives developed to include sustainability in higher education, with the support of Education for Sustainable Development, it is worth wondering at what point is the process of inserting sustainability in university degrees. To clarify this question, engineering students were inquired, at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), about their perception of the insertion-level of sustainability and the importance they give to it (in environmental, social, and economic dimensions). The novelty of this study lies in the use of a new questionnaire, based on the students’ activity. The instrument was designed ad hoc and was previously validated for this study. The results indicate a low insertion level of sustainability in its three dimensions in three engineering degrees analysed. Nevertheless, the research also shows that the students give great importance to Sustainable Development (SD), either in academic, personal, or professional spheres. The low insertion level of SD and the high interest of students should be considered by the academic institution as an opportunity to deep in its holistic approach to promote the integration of SD in university curricula, not only in engineering degrees.

O uso do instrumento Aishe na gestão para a sustentabilidade em uma universidade pública

As instituições de ensino superior são relevantes na formação de uma sociedade, dado ao seu papel na educação e difusão do conhecimento. A presente pesquisa avalia como a temática sustentabilidade vem sendo tratada em uma IES a partir da aplicação do instrumento Assessment Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education - Aishe. Foi adotada a abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa, mediante análise de questionários aplicados a 42 coordenadores de curso de graduação do campus e gestores da administração central de uma universidade pública. O público-alvo atribuiu notas para 30 critérios distribuídos em cinco módulos, tornando possível avaliar e compreender a situação de sustentabilidade no campus. O módulo pesquisa apresentou o panorama mais crítico, enquanto o módulo sociedade foi o melhor avaliado. O atual cenário decorre da existência de poucas iniciativas e ao seu limitado funcionamento, mas há uma perspectiva promissora, já que o novo PDI incorporou premissas e prazos compatíveis com a Agenda 2030.

Integration of Sustainability in Engineering and Architectural Studies in Spanish Universities

The recommendations of the UN and other international bodies on the need to transform university curricula to incorporate sustainability values, content and competencies have met with a warm reception from universities all over the world. However, the actual state of the integration of sustainability in higher education is, in general, somewhat more modest than one would expect. This article proposes a method of measuring the extent of sustainability-oriented curricular change in the Spanish University as a whole and applies it to the degrees in engineering and architecture. The method entails a documentary analysis of the teaching guides related to 1050 subjects. The results obtained do not invite optimism: curricular transformation is slow and insufficient and its results are still incomplete.