The impacts of higher education institutions on sustainable development

Florian Findler,Daniela Reider,Rodrigo Lozano,André Martinuzzi,Norma Schönherr

doi:10.1108/ijshe-07-2017-0114

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to conceptualize impacts of higher education institutions (HEIs) on sustainable development (SD), complementing previous literature reviews by broadening the perspective from what HEIs do in pursuit of SD to how these activities impact society, the environment and the economy.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2005 and 2017. Inductive content analysis was applied to identify major themes and impact areas addressed in the literature to develop a conceptual framework detailing the relationship between HEIs’ activities and their impacts on SD.FindingsThe paper identifies six impact areas where direct and indirect impacts of HEIs on SD may occur. The findings indicate a strong focus on case studies dealing with specific projects and a lack of studies analyzing impacts from a more holistic perspective.Practical implicationsThis systematic literature review enables decision-makers in HEIs, researchers and educators to better understand how their activities may affect society, the environment and the economy, and it provides a solid foundation to tackle these impacts.Social implicationsThe review highlights that HEIs have an inherent responsibility to make societies more sustainable. HEIs must embed SD into their systems while considering their impacts on society.Originality/valueThis paper provides a holistic conceptualization of HEIs’ impacts on SD. The conceptual framework can be useful for future research that attempts to analyze HEIs’ impacts on SD from a holistic perspective.

Highlights

IntroductionSince the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, higher education institutions (HEIs) have increasingly undertaken active measures to contribute to sustainable development© Florian Findler, Norma Schönherr, Rodrigo Lozano, Daniela Reider and André Martinuzzi
Since the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, higher education institutions (HEIs) have increasingly undertaken active measures to contribute to sustainable development© Florian Findler, Norma Schönherr, Rodrigo Lozano, Daniela Reider and André Martinuzzi.Published by Emerald Publishing Limited
Findings of the literature review The literature reviewed consisted of 113 articles representing the state of knowledge on HEIs and impacts on sustainable development (SD)

Summary

Introduction

Since the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, higher education institutions (HEIs) have increasingly undertaken active measures to contribute to sustainable development© Florian Findler, Norma Schönherr, Rodrigo Lozano, Daniela Reider and André Martinuzzi. Since the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, higher education institutions (HEIs) have increasingly undertaken active measures to contribute to sustainable development. SD in HEIs has been promoted, for example, through declarations and charters (Lozano et al, 2013b), the redesign of curricula (Du et al, 2013; Qian, 2013), regional and global partnerships (Kawabe et al, 2013) and sustainable campus initiatives (Vaughter et al, 2016). HEI engagement with SD has significantly increased since 1987 (Lozano et al, 2013b) and was further promoted through the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014), which aimed to integrate the principles of SD into all aspects of HEIs (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2014)

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