Abstract
Our research aims to establish an evaluation framework and evaluate the sustainability of scientific research in universities. Based on the concept of Education for Sustainable Development and the function of scientific research activities, an evaluation framework was constructed including three dimensions: the sustainable trend of scientific research activity, research performance related to the topic of sustainable development, and sustainability of scientific research contributions. Descriptive analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis, and a Statistical Index Method were used to calculate the sustainability of scientific research of world-class universities in China. Results show that China’s world-class universities published more articles related to sustainable development than the best-performing universities in the UK and USA. They make sustainable contributions to society through cultivating Ph.D. graduates, publishing research papers, and transforming science and technology. However, the sustainable trend of the scientific research of universities is still to be improved. The result of resource efficiency is relatively low, and attention should be paid to the waste of human and financial resources. In addition, universities should improve their ability to withstand external risks to minimize the influence of external public emergencies such as COVID-19.
Highlights
Countries around the world have attached great importance to sustainable development since the publication of the Brundtland Report
In terms of the evaluation of research performance related to the topic of sustainable development, previous studies have often used content analysis
The framework includes the sustainable trend of scientific research, the sustainability of scientific research contribution, and the research performance related to the topic of sustainable development
Summary
Education is an important tool for achieving human sustainable development, and universities have been supplying several types of resources and providing solutions for the sustainable development of society [1,2]. Scientific research is one of the core functions of modern universities and plays an important role in the process by constantly cultivating outstanding graduates, producing useful knowledge, and developing hi-tech products. Such research only reflects what universities have done for sustainable development and does not directly present how well they are doing and where they need to improve in the process. Some universities have released reports on sustainable development, the performance of scientific research is only a very small part of it [11]
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