Sustainability assessment of the service operations at seven higher education institutions in Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to test a procedure for assessing the adoption of sustainable practices in higher education technological institutions services, known as institutes of technology and polytechnic universities. The model, named Sustainability Assessment for Higher Technological Education (SAHTE), consists of 134 criteria that cover five aspects: 1) Governance/Policies, 2) People, 3) Food, 4) Energy/Water, 5) Waste/Environment. This structure is based on international frameworks and standards as GRI, AISHE, SAQ, GreenMetric, Green Report Card, and Campus Ecology. Seven higher technological education institutions are studied, providing data for testing the SAHTE model, as well as auditing the adoption of sustainability practices. The case studies, besides direct observations and document analysis, collected data from 170 interviews to faculty, staff, and students, and they show the lack of governmental incentives toward sustainability in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). Although, there is no external incentives that contribute for the adoption of best practices as green offices, the studied institutions show isolated initiatives that mostly are related to solid waste management. There is a consensus among the studied HEI directives that their educational programs does not address properly sustainability issues, which create a barrier for the academic community to perceive the importance to develop a sustainability model for managing HEI institutions. Sustainability in these organizations could be approached in the perspective of service operations and connect their contribution to value creation. In turn, that hinders the implementation of selective waste collection, for instance, a basic service operation that is still incipient in at least six of the seven institutions analyzed. In technological education, the correct treatment and disposal of laboratory waste offer a great opportunity to raise awareness among students, collaborators, and the community while preparing students for situations they will possibly face in companies. The results obtained by the SAHTE model may be useful for planning and developing policies concerning sustainable development, especially in service operations at the HEI examined.