HORIZONTAL DECISION FOR THE DESIGN OF THE ACTION PLAN OF SUSTAINABILITY IN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Although nowadays sustainable development is understood with more dimensions than the society-economy-environment triad, efforts are still made around it, not acknowledging the symbolic dimension of sustainable development. In Higher Education Institutions, the Hidden Curriculum is a place for the symbolic dimension. The action plan for sustainable development was the excuse to exercise horizontal decision making and learning sustainability (principles) from Hidden Curriculum. The experience was carried out in a Research center that offers two graduate programs (one master and one Ph. D. degrees) in Environmental Science and Sustainability. Following Bui’s method and Munda’s Work, a workshop-breakfast was conducted, where students, faculty members, staff, alumni, advisory committee’s members, and janitorial personnel attended. All attendants expressed their opinions (0-10 scale for importance and commitment) over 37 variables of environmental, academic, research, economic, social-personal and philosophical dimensions of Sustainability. Results were processed by software Guide 4.0 to report agreement and disagreement. Summarizing agreement and disagreement according to the variables, it is possible to conclude that a discreet and qualified consensus was reached. The environmental dimension federates community’s sustainability notion, while Philosophical-Political and Social-Personal dimensions show the weakest link to sustainability. In particular, the variable Horizontal decision-making attracts attention as the variable with highest disagreement, a paradox in itself given the fact that the participating community demonstrates a strong disagreement regarding the concept of sustainability. According with results, further research is needed since it seems possible to predict pro-environmental behavior but not “sustainable behavior”. This research highlights the importance of training experts on sustainability mainly by principles, not only through the formal curriculum but also on the hidden one. To our knowledge, this work is one of the first to equally consider experts and common people in an academic space.