Toward Sustainability Through Higher Education: Sustainable Development Incorporation into Portuguese Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how sustainable development (SD) has been incorporated into Portuguese higher education institutions (HEIs). A review of literature and the analysis of the available documentation in institutional webpages of the different HEIs were conducted to establish the theoretical framework and validating the current state of integration of sustainability in Portuguese HEIs (how SD is integrated in the practices of HEIs). We analyzed the two types of Public HEIs (Universities and Polytechnics) and we found the existence of different ways of approaching SD. The SD dimensions analyzed were the environmental, economic, social/cultural, and institutional/political/educational ones (e.g., Leal Filho et al. in Int J Sustain High Educ 16:112–129, 2015; Lozano in Int J Sustain High Educ 12:67–78, 2011; Segalas et al. in J Cleaner Prod 18:275–284, 2010; Waas et al. in Sustainability, 3, 1637–1661, 2011). We have also researched the different stages that HEIs are in the incorporation, dissemination, and institutionalization of SD. We have reviewed all the institutional websites for the 34 Public Portuguese’s HEIs, which 20 of them are polytechnics and 14 universities. The majority of HEIs communicate their SD practices actively. It was also pointed out that SD practices vary considerably from one HEIs to another. However, the results show that SD in Portuguese HEIs is still in its early stages.