Sustainable Development Of Universities Research Articles

Research on innovation of university leadership network management based on the concept of knowledge management

In the era of knowledge economy and network, colleges and universities are increasingly becoming a collection of real world and virtual time and space. More and more college students obtain information, learning, and educational resources through the Internet. Under the influence of the Internet world, colleges and universities are using the current situation of network management. The traditional management concept is difficult to play a management role, and management is becoming more and more difficult. It is urgent to establish a new management model that adapts to the requirements of the times, to utilize the value of human resources by expanding personnel allocation, to support the high-quality development of teaching work, and to help colleges and universities. achieve sustainable development. Starting from this demand, innovating the existing management model based on the knowledge management concept has become an effective strategy for integrating human resources and knowledge resources in colleges and universities in the new era and improving the level of comprehensive management. The core of knowledge management is the innovation of network management, which aims to provide certain scientific thinking for university management and promote the sustainable development of universities.

General education in Taiwan’s universities: Development, challenges, and role

General education is closely tied to universities because the holistic and liberal elements of modern general education are key ideals of both traditional Chinese and Western universities. General education plays a key role in the sustainable development of universities and the realization of their educational ideals. This study discusses the development and challenges of general education in Taiwan’s universities, and the role of general education in the sustainable development of universities. According to a literature review, this study explores the following roles: (1) general education as the foundation of university professional education; (2) general education reform as the foundation of university education reform; (3) general education as the educational ideal of universities; (4) general education as a solution for the “knowledge-only” and “dehumanization” problems of universities; (5) general education as a buffer between technology and humanities in universities; (6) general education as a tool for the enrichment of university culture; and (7) general education as a means to achieve the goals of universities and promote their sustainable development.

Impact of psychological empowerment on job performance of Chinese university faculty members: A cross-sectional study

As knowledge workers, faculty members are pivotal for the sustainable development of universities. We explored the psychological empowerment–job performance relationship with 216 faculty members of a Chinese university. Participants completed two self-report scales that have been shown to have adequate reliability and validity, which were used to assess psychological empowerment and job performance. The results show there was a significant positive correlation between psychological empowerment and job performance, such that each psychological empowerment dimension was positively correlated with each job performance dimension. Our findings highlight the importance of the psychological empowerment of university faculty members, because it is necessary for their professional development, and as the driving force for sustainable development of universities, they can contribute toward promoting academic productivity.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SOCIAL COHESION AS DRIVERS IN THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITIES

The purpose of this article is to theoretically, methodologically and practically explore social responsibility and social cohesion and justify their role as driving forces in the sustainable development of universities. This paper focuses on the rationale for various aspects of the development of social responsibility and social cohesion, and specifically in higher education. The article defines the importance of the values of social cohesion and social development and their implementation in the education of socially responsible youth. Listed the main categories in which the social responsibility of the higher education can be determined and applied for the educational management effectiveness. This article aims to show the role of social cohesion and social responsibility in the implementation of the principles of sustainable development, and to reveal the relations between the values of social cohesion and social responsibility and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Methodology. Scientific analysis is carried out with the help of an interdisciplinary system of methods, namely, system analysis, interviewing, statistical data analysis, comparison, etc. Social synergetics and system approach are applied to the issues of education management.Results. The methodological approaches to the formation of modern educational and management models for universities are considered. The model of the social cohesion of the university community is analyzed. The university management strategy based on the values and principles of social responsibility and social cohesion is described. Ways to improve the economic and managerial efficiency of universities and society, respectively, are considered. The process of self-organization in education management and parameters of its ordering are defined.The most significant scientific results: the attitude and development of such values as social responsibility and social cohesion in the Ukrainian educational community were investigated; the sustainable development of universities as the best practice and factor of influence on socio-economic development was determined; the role of social responsibility and social cohesion as parameters of order in enhancing the sustainable development of universities and society respectively was substantiated.The practical significance of the study lies in the actualization of the need to develop social responsibility and social cohesion in the Ukrainian educational community, which is confirmed by statistical data, as well as the possibility of their application in the educational process and value-based management of education. The use of these results in the practice of education management allows us to create a model of social responsibility of universities and outline the directions of its implementation, to develop and implement a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of social responsibility, to study the actual level of social cohesion of the university community, to suggest ways for its further development, aimed at improving the competitiveness of universities in a globalized environment.Value/originality. The originality of the study lies in the combination of the two key values of the EU and their correspondence to the SDGs and the sustainable development of universities on the basis of value-based education management. A social synergetic approach is applied to issues of educational governance.

Sustainability and creativity through mail art: A case study with young artists in universities

Universities around the world are making considerable efforts to contribute to sustainable development through their institutional frameworks, education, research or community awareness. This article discusses how young artists connect with sustainability problems through an analysis of individual artistic creativity (visions, sources of inspiration, messages and communicative strategies) by means of a novel interpretive arts-based research methodology: mail art. A collection of mail art individually created by 29 young artists who also provide self-reports on the meaning of their work, the creation process and its intent are analyzed using a qualitative content analysis methodology complemented by an aesthetic inquiry into the artistic qualities and creative techniques of the collection. The research concludes that the collection reproduces but also produces messages promoting a sustainability culture. It promotes individual actions for sustainability with everyday creativity using expert knowledge and describes visions and attitudes expressed by young people to detect gaps and to develop a more informed education for sustainable development in universities. Although there are individual differences, the participants generally show appropriate values -such as universalism-, and a desire for ethical action within an ecocentric worldview, displaying constructive hope. However, the collection stands out for a collective, global and future-oriented, versus individual, local and present-oriented framing, running the risk of becoming visions that can delay transformative actions. Some of the most conclusive recommendations of the study are the need to work on the issues of equity and equality in universities today, to enhance the critical perspective of students and to change their current role from that of merely observers to agents for change.

Investigating The Sustainable Development of Tabriz University Based on Green Management Parameters and Preferences of University Managers

In recent years, the destruction of the environment on the one hand and the increase in awareness of the consequences of this great danger on the other hand, has led to global actions and consequently, local actions to protect the environment and sustainable development. One of these actions is the sustainable development of universities. The reason for the importance of this case is, firstly, the goal of the universities themselves, which as the center of knowledge and training of the country's elites, is also at the top of environmental affairs, and secondly, as a center with a large number of students and staff which can have a great impact with action for environment. In this research, by using library studies, field observations and interviews, we try to identify sustainability measures of Iranian universities in order to achieve sustainable development and finally present the results of these measures to improve the methods of establishing sustainable development in universities and provide a comprehensive and complete model taking into account all aspects of sustainable development in universities with special emphasis on the campus and its green management. A questionnaire-based on international and domestic standards on the effectiveness of green management parameters in the sustainable development of Tabriz University was prepared and sent to university administrators and faculty members, and then the top ten rankings of this questionnaire were used using interviews with Tabriz university administrators to be determined their preferences in this regard.

Energy Consumption Analysis and Comprehensive Energy Efficiency Evaluation of Campus Central Heating System Based on Heat Supply Monitoring Platform

The energy conservation of campus buildings is the most direct and effective means to promote the sustainable development of colleges and universities. Using the heat data collected by heat supply monitoring platform to perform real-time energy consumption analysis and heating energy efficiency evaluation is a prerequisite for realizing automatic heat supply control based on energy conservation and heating demand. This paper studied the energy conservation analysis and comprehensive energy efficiency evaluation of campus central heating system based on the heat supply monitoring platform. At first, the paper elaborated on the energy consumption analysis method of the campus central heating system based on the heat supply monitoring platform; then, it gave the energy balance equation and the exergy balance equation; after that, based on a few parameters such as the EHR (electricity to heat ratio), heating index, and water makeup rate, this paper evaluated the energy efficiency of the campus central heating system, and experimental results verified the effectiveness of the analysis and evaluation methods.

The Model of Responsible Managerial Education in Conditions of Economy Transformation

Today’s universities’ need to adapt to transformation processes is formed by such phenomena as digitalization and globalization of economy, fast growth in competition in the field of education services, the development of innovation technologies and communication means. Being the foundation of human capital development for all industries of economy the education environment today should meet the acute requirements of labour market in highly qualified workers, foster establishment of strong links with national and international academic communities and successful positioning in global education and professional business-space. Taking into account the UN initiative ‘Principles of Responsible Managerial Education’ (2007), which is considered as an approach to promotion of principles of sustainable development in universities implementing education programs of managerial profile, the university becomes a key element in shaping a new education eco-system. It defined the aim of the present research, which includes analysis of the key trends in the development of today’s system of managerial personnel training and factors that stipulated them on global and national level. On the basis of 25-years’ experience of the chair ‘Management of Capital Group Projects and Programs’ of the Russian Plekhanov University of Economics the authors studied the key stages of transformation processes of developing the system of higher education in Russia in post-soviet period. In conclusion they formulated new characteristics of the model of responsible managerial education being shaped.

Holistic integration of sustainability at universities: Evidences from Colombia

Education for sustainable development in universities provides the university’s community (i.e. students, administrative and academic staff) with the skills and capabilities needed to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. Education for sustainable development has been introduced into curricula, research, outreach activities and campus operations. Several tools exist nowadays to assess this incorporation. Most of them are focused on the environmental aspect of campus operations and within academic issues but do not consider the entire system. This research aimed to propose an integration of sustainability throughout the university as a system, considering existing tools and frameworks, and proving the theoretical proposal in an empirical context. Thus, this paper focuses on sustainability from a whole-institution perspective, analysing the university as a system conformed of two subsystems, the academic and the administrative. The research used a sequential, mixed-method. The quantitative phase undertook a literature review using bibliometric and content analysis, followed by a qualitative phase using the thematic analysis method to develop the University Sustainability concept. The University Sustainability analysis integrated education for sustainable development aspects for the academic subsystem and the corporate sustainability paradigm for the administrative subsystem. Consequently, a sustainability measurement scale for the University Sustainability concept was developed and proved using the exploratory factor analysis. The survey was applied to directors, academic and administrative staff, and under and post-graduate students of two private universities located in Medellin, Colombia. A total of 1799 useable responses were collected and analysed with SPSS software. The analysis’ outcome exposed all factors loaded above 0.40, and overall, the alpha coefficient was 0.930. Results revealed the reliability and validity of the instrument. Hence, the University Sustainability concept was validated, and its measurement scale is suitable to be used in assessing the sustainability of universities holistically. The evidence from the studied universities shows the relevance of corporate sustainability and social issues in the developed University Sustainability concept.

Towards a common future: revising the evolution of university-based sustainability research literature

ABSTRACT The field of sustainability has evolved considerably since the report “Our Common Future” was published in 1987. Whereas matters related to sustainable development used to be of marginal interest in the 1980s, it has substantially evolved since, and have become mainstream. As a result, there is a plethora of research on different aspects, whose focus has also been influenced by societal developments. This line of thinking also applies to sustainability research in higher education, a special and central field. Unfortunately, the variety of research on matters of sustainable development in universities makes it difficult to obtain an insight into its current status, and to ascertain how it has evolved since 1987. Based on the perceived need to fill this gap, a study focusing on the evolution of university-based sustainability research literature has been undertaken. The study entailed approximately 1700 papers published between 1987 and 2019, being one of the most comprehensive studies on this field ever undertaken. Apart from performing a bibliometric analysis using science mapping software tools, the research clustered the research into some key areas. The results suggest that, whereas impressive, the evolution of university-based sustainability research has been uneven, and calls for a more balanced emphasis to as to cover some research areas which have so far been neglected. The implications of this work are twofold: it will support the further development of the university-based sustainability research literature, and will help to address some thematic gaps, which are seen today, and to which greater attention is needed.

For the Sustainable Development of Universities: Exploring the External Factors Impacting Returned Early Career Academic’s Research Performance in China

Early career academics are the key agents for the sustainable development of higher education institutions. In China, those who were educated overseas and have returned to Chinese universities to seek academic positions are becoming a fast-growing group. Good research performance is critical to survive in the increasingly competitive environment in academia. Improving research performance requires an understanding of the factors that facilitate or inhibit research performance. In the light of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, this study, using a mixed-method design (20 interviewees and 136 respondents), elaborates on a number of external factors affecting returned early career academics’ research performance. Understanding these factors is helpful for the building of a favorable environment that can improve the research performance of the returned early career academics, and hence the sustainable development of universities.

Positive Psychological Intervention Mechanism of VR Technology in Public Health Emergencies in Universities

Public health emergencies in colleges and universities refer to public incidents that occur within or outside colleges and universities, but are quite related to people or events in colleges and universities, which are difficult to predict beforehand, and have a certain impact on the school’s teaching, work, and life order. It has the characteristics of suddenness, groupness, and unpredictability. This article aims to analyze the common problems in the management of public health in colleges and universities, propose specific measures to strengthen the management of public health emergencies in colleges and universities, and maintain the harmonious, stable, healthy and sustainable development of colleges and universities. This article uses VR technology to conduct psychological interventions on public health emergencies in colleges and universities, integrate more complete biological individuals into the virtual system, and let the individual's various perception activities such as sight, hearing and touch, as well as emotions such as joy, tension and fear. Reactions will be fully expressed, realistic effects, and immersive interactions. The experimental results of this paper show that after the application of VR technology in the positive psychological intervention mechanism, people's attention to public emergencies in colleges and universities has increased by 13%, and the frequency of public emergencies has also been reduced by 20%.

Analysis on Job Burnout of College Teachers

Higher education is an important part of education in China and plays an irreplaceable role in national economic construction, scientific and technological progress and social development. The professional development of college teachers plays an important role in the development of colleges and universities. The long-term development of teachers in professional concept, attitude, knowledge, ability, affection and so on can realize self-wish and individual professionalization. However, in the process of career development, some teachers will appear job burnout, which will seriously affect the rapid development of teachers. Therefore, the research and analysis of the phenomenon of job burnout of college teachers can help teachers through this bottleneck period smoothly, gradually move to the peak of occupation on the road of career development, and play the greatest role in the construction of colleges and universities. Through the analysis and discussion of the general situation of college teachers' job burnout, we can prevent and alleviate job burnout, and then put forward effective strategies, which plays an important role in the sustainable development of colleges and universities.

University as a Champion of Sustainable Development: Objectives, Approaches and Practice

The article reviews the objectives connected with present day university functioning within the frames of the UN global agenda, i.e. to ensure sustainable development. The academic community is interested mainly in finding the answer to the question about new approaches to conducting education, research and administrative functions of the university. University is considered as an influential institution, which promotes innovation and train future specialists to make responsible decisions. Values and goals of sustainable development affect universities, thus the aim of the article is to show in what way university can pursue ideology of system changes through realization of its education mission. The UN initiative ‘Responsible Managerial Education’ (RME) is seen as an approach to promoting sustainable development in universities and to designing new education programs. It is pointed out that by realizing principles of responsible managerial education in master course universities can develop practices contributing to goal attainment in the field of sustainable development. As a driver for RME realization the Englishlanguage master course program ‘Sustainable Management' was advanced, which relies on orientation to goals of sustainable development and principles of responsible managerial education. The authors put forward a concept of the program for Russian universities that includes methodological approaches to its construction, rough curriculum and expected outcomes. It is shown that system efforts aimed at attaining goals of sustainable management through responsible managerial education shall be continued by using the proposed solutions and searching for new ones. The authors identify spheres of university functioning that require serious reforms. Conclusions are drawn about new discourses in the field higher education connected with comprehending the involvement of universities in initiatives of sustainable development.

Sustainable Development of University as a Prerequisite of Region’s and Country’s Prosperity

The article by the rector of the Kazan Innovation University named after V.G. Timiryasov (KIU) shows the development path of one of the strongest non-governmental universities in the Volga region, recognized as a university that makes a great contribution to the development of the region and the country. This academic year, KIU celebrated its 25th anniversary. The demand for a university among the population is evidenced by the fact that, according to the ranking of the demand for universities in the Russian Federation, published by the Social Navigator project of MIA Russia Today, the university takes the 15th place in the group “Universities of management area” (Economics, Finance, Law). The share of graduates of KGU named after V.G. Timiryasov who received a job placement is 88,9%. The share of funds from the commercialization of intellectual products is 10,9%. Also, the ranking shows a high citation index of the works of faculty. The development of the university is comparable to the development of the largest universities in the world, which, by training personnel in popular specialties, provide the future for the country.

Fostering Sustainable Development through Shifting Toward Rural Areas and Digitalization—The Case of Romanian Universities

Educational institutions, especially universities, have been major pillars in societal transformation throughout society’s history. They have been leading change through their discoveries, research results, and foremost, their example. Nowadays, universities have once again taken the role of leading change in a world that is profoundly determined to have a sustainable approach to life, paying attention to the long-term effects of their actions. In this sense, under the impact of deep digitalization, this paper advocates for the sustainable development of universities regarding campuses’ expansion to rural areas. Moreover, it was demonstrated that sustainable development can be achieved by embracing the potential of digitalization. Based on a multicriteria analysis of the Romanian development regions, the research results showed that the rural area might be a welcoming environment for campuses of sustainable universities, based on digitalization at the level of the rural area in all activity fields, which is an initiative that would generate positive outcomes on many levels for different types of stakeholders, such as universities, students, staff, rural area population, and the nearby business environment. Future research aims to approach and explain the compounded effects of such an approach in depth and establish an even clearer picture of how beneficial such an expansion could prove to all factors considered under a knowledge-based society with digitized information as a vital pillar.

Research as a Base for Sustainable Development of Universities: Using the Delphi Method to Explore Factors Affecting International Publishing among Vietnamese Academic Staff

In recent years, the Vietnamese government has put significant effort into the internationalization of research in the higher education system via the use of international publications (i.e., publications indexed by citation databases such as ISI Web of Science and Scopus) in evaluating their academic staff and doctoral students. Academic staff in Vietnam, who traditionally have low numbers of international publications, have thus been pushed to improve their competencies in order to meet the new requirements for research productivity. However, we have little understanding of the factors influencing international publication as perceived by Vietnamese academic staff. This study aims to fill the gap by using the Delphi method. Academic staff with at least one international publication were invited, via purposeful sampling, to participate in a two-round Delphi survey. The survey revealed 14 key factors, which were further classified into three dimensions: “policy-related factors,” “capability-related factors,” and “networking-related factors”. These factors were the key determinants in the success of international publishing, according to the study participants. The findings provide implications for policymakers and university leaders for enhancing the research capacities of Vietnamese universities, forming a basis for the sustainable development of the higher education sector in Vietnam.

Adaptation Potential of Teachers of the Third Age in the Conditions of Higher Education Transformation

Introduction. In many countries around the world, the increase in life expectancy leads to significant social transformations. Institutional structures, social protection policies and legislation on the life and employment of older citizens are being changed today. In Russian higher education, more than a third of professional community belongs to the group of teachers of the third (pre-retirement and retirement) age. The modernisation of this area and the raising of the retirement age will make it possible to study the peculiarities of this group of faculty members as a reserve of the vocational training system.The aim of the present article is to characterise the adaptive potential of social community of teachers of the third age in the context of the transformation of higher education.Methodology and research methods. The methodological framework of the article is based on the set of general scientific approaches: communal, comparative, institutional, resource. The first method provides an opportunity to consider teachers of the third age as a social community with their own specific features. The comparative approach is used to see specific features in dynamics (on the materials of official statistics) and to compare them with similar characteristics of teachers of other age groups. The institutional and resource approaches are aimed at identifying adaptive abilities of teachers of the third age against the background of current restructuring processes in higher education. The article is based on the materials of research projects conducted in 2017–2019 and on a mass survey of teachers. The general population consisted of 51 universities of the Ural Federal District. The volume of the sample of teachers is 810 people.Results and scientific novelty. The study showed that teachers of the third age are characterised by a high level of adaptation to changes in higher education. They successfully fulfill themselves in scientific and pedagogical activities. They are characterised by relatively high publication and grant activities, realisation of new educational forms and high motivation and readiness to improve their com petencies and qualifications. At the same time, teachers of the third age estimate their social security in the professional sphere as extremely low. This community is characterised by a high level of criticality in relation to the implemented institutional changes in the field of higher education, which is based on a socially mature responsibility formed within their professional activities for the consequences of decisions taken.Practical significance. The research undertaken demonstrates the stereotype inadequacy concerning non-adaptability of third-age university teachers to technological, content and organisational innovations. Moreover, teachers of the third age are a significant factor in the sustainable development of universities. Therefore, it is necessary to develop management models and create institutional conditions for maximum use of human capital of third-age teachers, whose peculiarities, needs and opportunities in the system of Russian higher education are inadequately taken into account today.

Interval 2‐tuple Pythagorean fuzzy linguistic MULTIMOORA method with CIA and their application to MCGDM

The reliable evaluation of financial performance of universities plays an important role in sustainable development of universities, and it could be regarded as a multicriteria group decision making problem. Based on this, in this paper, with respect to the attribute evaluation values are expressed by interval 2-tuple Pythagorean fuzzy linguistic variables, we develop an extended MULTIMOORA method. First, we propose the interval 2-tuple Pythagorean fuzzy linguistic set based on Pythagorean fuzzy set and interval-valued 2-tuple linguistic variables, and further introduce the score and accuracy functions and Hamming distance of it. Then, considering that there are some deficiencies in the traditional MULTIMOORA method, such as exist the case of circular reasoning, and so forth. We improve it by proposing a comprehensive integration approach, which can not only consider both the utility values and sort results, but also reflect the preference attitude of decision makings simultaneously. Based on these research findings, an interval 2-tuple Pythagorean fuzzy linguistic MULTIMOORA method is presented and the calculation process of this method is described in detail. Finally, we give the numerical example concerning the evaluation of financial management performance in universities to illustrate practicability and reliability of the proposed approach and compare the proposed method with different methods to perform its flexibility.

Green campus governance for promoting sustainable development in institutions of higher learning-evidence from a theoretical analysis

This study examines the current green practice implementation in institutions of higher learning (IHL) towards attaining sustainable development. Accordingly, a theoretical analysis was conducted based on primary data from green practice documents and secondary data from review of prior studies. Based on the findings from the theoretical data, a green campus governance model grounded on economic, social and environmental dimension of sustainability was developed to further extend the collaboration among sustainability practitioners by providing incorporated data on factors that influences sustainable development in universities. Accordingly, findings from this study present the declarations and summits, background, importance and issues faced by institutions of higher learning in attaining sustainable development. Moreover, evidence from this study presents 16 universities in Malaysia that currently implements green practices. Respectively, the derived factors in the developed green campus governance model can be employed as an assessment tool for benchmarking sustainable development in universities.