Spanish Universities’ Sustainability Performance and Sustainability-Related R&D+I

Daniela De Filippo, Leyla Angélica Sandoval-Hamón, Fernando Casani and Elías Sanz-Casado
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Daniela De Filippo: Research Institute for Higher Education and Science (INAECU) (UAM-UC3M), 28903 Getafe, Spain
Leyla Angélica Sandoval-Hamón: Research Institute for Higher Education and Science (INAECU) (UAM-UC3M), 28903 Getafe, Spain
Fernando Casani: Research Institute for Higher Education and Science (INAECU) (UAM-UC3M), 28903 Getafe, Spain
Elías Sanz-Casado: Research Institute for Higher Education and Science (INAECU) (UAM-UC3M), 28903 Getafe, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: For its scope and the breadth of its available resources, the university system is one of the keys to implementing and propagating policies, with sustainability policies being among them. Building on sustainability performance in universities, this study aimed to: Identify the procedures deployed by universities to measure sustainability; detect the strengths and weaknesses of the Spanish university system (SUS) sustainability practice; analyse the SUS contributions to sustainability-related Research, Development and Innovation (R&D+I); and assess the efficacy of such practices and procedures as reported in the literature. The indicators of scientific activity were defined by applying scientometric techniques to analyse the journal (Web of Science) and European project (CORDIS) databases, along with reports issued by national institutions. The findings showed that measuring sustainability in the SUS is a very recent endeavour and that one of the strengths is the university community’s engagement with the ideal. Nonetheless, high performance is still elusive in most of the items analysed. Whereas universities account for nearly 90 % of the Spanish papers published in the WoS subject category, Green and Sustainable Science and Technology, their contribution to research projects is meagre. A divide still exists in the SUS between policies and results, although the gap has been narrowing in recent years.

Keywords: university policies on sustainability; scientometric indicators; Web of Science; CORDIS; Spanish university system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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