Abstract
Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been steadily progressing towards the integration of sustainable practices in their structures and operations. Several studies have reported the variety of drivers of change and the barriers to change that universities have found in the integration process. The present investigation is aimed at further characterizing and ranking the drivers for, and barriers of, sustainability integration in HEIs within their structures and operating functions. Open-ended expert opinion interviews of key sustainability leaders appointed at 45 HEIs from 10 Latin-American countries were conducted in order to learn lessons from their diverse experiences of the process. Additionally, a thematic workshop on HEI sustainability was organized to facilitate further discussions between 23 sustainability scholars and/or national coordinators of university networks from 11 Latin American countries. As a result, 15 barriers were identified as hindering the institutionalization of sustainability in HEIs. This study also examined the relationship between these reported barriers with 13 main drivers that were identified to be facilitating the integration of sustainable practices within the organizational and academic structures at the universities. The strong correspondence between the several observed drivers for, and barriers to, change highlights the importance of strategic planning that offers integrated actions. The findings of this paper can serve as a reference to assist HEIs in identifying drivers of, and barriers to, sustainability, so that the former can be fostered and the latter addressed effectively. This can help identify and plan targeted actions to make the transition towards sustainability in HEIs more natural and effective.
Highlights
The 2030 Agenda with the 17 Sustainable Developments Goals (SDG) is the newest plan of action adopted by the United Nations to make the way for achieving global sustainability [1]
The feedback obtained by the expertise, experience and influence of several university leader of sustainability (ULSs) in Latin-American Higher education institutions (HEIs) was individually examined in order to identify management priorities
Higher education institutions are where future leaders are trained, and they have a prominent role in social responsibility
Summary
The 2030 Agenda with the 17 Sustainable Developments Goals (SDG) is the newest plan of action adopted by the United Nations to make the way for achieving global sustainability [1]. This agenda is a tool to put in place strategic actions and shared efforts between countries and confront the global challenges of modern societies, such as poverty, hunger and social inequalities, among other problems, leading to a stalemate on the improvement of quality of life and the environment In this context, universities play a key role as agents of change to transform the world as their actions on building fairer, more equitable and sustainable communities in their campuses can be taken as an exemplary reference for the society [2,3,4]. The more engaged the university members are as agents of change towards sustainability, the better an example will the universities provide to the society
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