The Practice of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Introduction

Abstract

How do we move from promise to practice in the exploration of sustainability in higher education? In Part Three, we bring examplary practices to the forefront. These practices have in common that they have been carefully studied by both insiders and outsiders, but they differ in scale and scope. Some represent intrainstitutional practices, in that they describe different ways in which a single university or unit within a university seeks to respond to the challenge of sustainability in higher education. In this category we have included innovative sustainability initiatives at universities in Denmark, United Kingdom, South Africa. and the United States. Other cases represent inter-institutional practice, in that they describe networks or other forms of cooperation between universities that jointly seek ways to explore sustainability within their institutions. In this category Part Three contains a review of a group of universities involved in a sustainability initiative in the USA, and an analysis of an network promoting sustainability in UK universities. Finally, one case from The Netherlands is included highlighting a tool or instrument that has been designed to help institutions systematically move towards sustainability. In this introductory chapter we provide a rationale for using case study methodology to highlight practice. We believe such a rationale is helpful in light of the recent avalanche of case studies reported in educational and other research. Case study methodology is a common and appropriate research tool used in studies of sustainability in higher education. The decision to publish case studies for a broad audience suggests that others have something to learn from the case study. Research in sustainability in higher education should, ideally, take account of all the complexities of the field. Sadly, this has not always, or frequently, been the case. Fien (2002, p. 244) reports that research in sustainability in higher education remains predominantly a theoretical ‘in that few studies have sought to go beyond description to include a critical and theoretical analysis of findings or to ground explanations in social or organizational theory’. Similarly, Corcoran et al. (2004) find that case study research in higher education has been descriptive but not