What Sustainability? Higher Education Institutions’ Pathways to Reach the Agenda 2030 Goals

Isabel Ruiz-Mallén and María Heras
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Isabel Ruiz-Mallén: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona 08860, Spain
María Heras: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona 08860, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have the mandate of promoting sustainability through addressing the Agenda 2030. However, how this is being understood and framed in both discourse and practice by HEIs remains an underexplored issue. This article interrogates the concept of sustainability embraced by ten key HEIs networks at global and regional levels while identifying and discussing the main pathways for action displayed. We rely on HEIs networks’ data from available online documents related to the Agenda 2030. “Greening” is the dominant sustainability discourse among the global and many regional HEIs networks, that is, the one that refers to the links between people, planet and profit. Two other discourses are minor and regional, “resilience” and “alternative”. The “alternative” discourse is the only one entailing a critical approach to the Agenda 2030 goals. All networks promote changes in HEIs organizational culture to embed sustainability values in strategic planning, academic and managerial work. Yet there is a need for further engagement with society to readdress HEIs societal role. Deep and critical reflection of the worldviews, contradictions and tensions in the discourses and practices proposed by HEIs networks at global and regional scales is also needed to build common pathways toward sustainability.

Keywords: discourse analysis; environment; Global South; Sustainable Development Goals; universities’ transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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