International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education最新文献

Purpose

In light of the world’s accelerating march towards a sustainable future, the education for sustainable healthcare must be sufficiently acknowledged in health professions curricula. Early integration of these competences into nursing degree programme emphasizes its importance and applicability. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of an educational sustainability intervention in higher education to change nursing students’ attitudes towards sustainability and climate change, and environmental awareness.

Design/methodology/approach

A quasi-experimental study was performed with repeated measures between September 2019 and May 2023. Undergraduate students were introduced to sustainability and climate change in the context of healthcare using scenario-based learning and augmented reality over the courses in nursing degree. Participants' attitudes and awareness were collected by online questionnaires.

Findings

The educational intervention showed effectiveness in significantly improving attitudes towards climate change and sustainability, and the environmental awareness for changing their clinical practice (p < 0.01). However, students struggled to apply sustainability and address unsustainable practices in healthcare settings.

Originality/value

This study shows an effective model of curricular sustainability that can be implemented in other universities and health disciplines. The findings highlighting the importance of sustainability education in nursing and its potential to drive positive change in healthcare practice and society at large. Embedding key topics aligned with sustainable development goals in the curriculum prepares nursing or health workforce to address planetary health and implement sustainable practices that provide climate-smart care.

Purpose

This paper outlines the active learning methods used to develop and deliver a sustainable business course to undergraduate students. Moreover, the paper aims to investigate the effect of the sustainable business course on the students’ engagement in sustainable consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

From a pedagogical perspective, the paper describes the active learning methods applied in a newly introduced sustainable business course via numerous distinctive assessment techniques. On the empirical front, the research investigates the impact of the sustainable business course on the students’ engagement in sustainable consumption. To test such impact, an online survey was distributed among students who completed the sustainable business course, and as a control group for comparison, students who did not take the course.

Findings

The research results indicate a positive relationship between completion of the sustainable business course and engagement in sustainable consumption. Furthermore, the data revealed that female students exhibited more engagement in sustainable consumption than male students.

Research limitations/implications

The study contributes to the literature on student-centered pedagogy, active learning techniques and the relationship between sustainable business education and engagement with sustainable consumption.

Practical implications

The study contributes to the literature on student-centered pedagogy, active learning techniques and the relationship between sustainable business education and engagement with sustainable consumption. Pedagogically, the nonconventional course curricula and assessment methods described in this study can be used as a reference by instructors aiming to integrate active and experiential teaching methods into their sustainable business curricula. For decision makers in higher education who are working in line with the global direction to achieve sustainability, this research provides preliminary evidence that students’ engagement with sustainability is influenced by their course curricula.

Originality/value

By depicting innovative approaches to teaching sustainability in business, the research enriches the field of sustainable business pedagogy which remains under-researched in many countries. Furthermore, the research goes further by investigating the effect of the course on students’ sustainable consumption. This acts as evidence of the effectiveness of teaching sustainable business in changing future leaders’ perspectives and priorities to include environmental and social aspects, which has become a global goal. Accordingly, the research has the potential to encourage more business schools to make sustainable business education mandatory.

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the extent of sustainability disclosure through websites at Spanish universities and analyse the determinants that affect such disclosure.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses as methodology a content analysis of the sustainability information disclosed by universities on their official websites in 2022 and a regression of ordinary least squares.

Findings

Findings emphasise that Spanish universities have moderate levels of online sustainability disclosure, close to 50%, showing prevalent attention to dimensions concerning “organisation profile and governance”, “economic aspects” and “labour practices”, while “curriculum and teaching on sustainability topics” and “environmental” dimensions were less addressed. On the other hand, the findings indicate that public and larger universities are the ones most engaged in the online disclosure of information about sustainability issues. Likewise, universities led by female rectors exert a positive influence on sustainability disclosure on websites.

Practical implications

The results could be useful for policymakers and regulators to implement and standardise sustainability reporting at higher education institutions, as well as for managers at universities who wish to increase the diffusion of sustainability outreach to satisfy stakeholders’ demands and legitimise their actions in society.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first Spanish approach to identify the explanatory factors for sustainability reporting in Spanish higher education institutions.

Purpose

This study aims to bring together the available scattered knowledge about teaching and learning in Living Labs within higher education, and to explore their potential for supporting students’ sustainability-oriented transformative learning.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review was conducted, applying a realist approach. A sample of 35 articles was analyzed qualitatively, mapping the data according to the realist constructs “context,” “intervention,” “mechanism” and “outcome” and using the constant comparison method for data analysis.

Findings

This study identified multiple characteristics of teaching and learning in sustainability-oriented Living Labs, namely, two socio-physical teaching and learning contexts, two pedagogical approaches as interventions therein, four learning processes as (potential) mechanisms and six sustainability-related learning outcomes. Two main challenges were also identified.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that brings together the scattered results from previous studies into a comprehensive description of characteristics and challenges of teaching and learning in Living Labs as sustainability-oriented learning spaces in higher education. The findings can support educators in making scientifically grounded informed choices for teaching and learning in Living Labs and inform future empirical studies to examine when, how and why certain characteristics of teaching and learning in Living Labs, as identified in this study, can support sustainability-oriented transformative learning in higher education.

Purpose

This study aims to delve into the evolution, trends and implications of scientific production related to service learning (SL) and community engagement for sustainability in higher education institutions (HEIs). Because HEIs play a crucial role in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs), experiential learning approaches are needed to actively involve students in sustainable development.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 869 publications from Web of Science and Scopus databases were analysed using a bibliometric approach that included performance analysis and science mapping. Subsequently, a systematic literature review was conducted on 118 publications, focusing on their contribution to SDGs and alignment with United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s fields of expertise.

Findings

The findings reveal two significant trends: a substantial shift from curriculum development (2000–2010) to education for sustainable development (2011–2022), and the effectiveness of experiential learning teaching approaches, such as the integration of SL with community engagement and the use of innovative research methods in promoting the acquisition of sustainable development competencies. Additionally, community-based research, participatory action research and capacity development emerged as the primary topics.

Research limitations/implications

While this research is based on publications from two prominent databases, it may not include significant studies published in other databases.

Practical implications

These findings suggest that stakeholders should incorporate experiential learning activities and innovative research approaches to enhance education in, for and from sustainability.

Originality/value

This study offers a fresh perspective on the intellectual framework of experiential learning teaching approaches concerning sustainability in HEIs.

Purpose

Student engagement has become increasingly significant in sustainability education for engineers because it enables future engineers to develop competencies, knowledge and values relevant to acting for sustainability. Therefore, this paper aims to examine characteristics of student engineer engagement with sustainability and to discuss the meanings of this concept.

Design/methodology/approach

To build a more holistic picture of student engineer engagement with sustainability, this study followed a literature review approach to search, screen and appraise relevant journal articles on this topic. As a result of this research, 30 articles were identified as eligible.

Findings

Based on the theoretical framework for student engagement with sustainability, newly synthesized here, and the content analysis of the 30 papers included in this study, four patterns of engagement were identified: intrapersonal engagement, inter-relational engagement, engagement as connection and disconnection and situated engagement.

Practical implications

This review provides practical recommendations about how to support the engagement of student engineers with sustainability at the levels of the individual, staff, educational programmes and associated curricula. Future research directions are also discussed.

Originality/value

This study contributes a theoretical framework synthesizing student engagement theory with sustainability education. It also describes current characteristics of student engineers’ engagement with sustainability.

Purpose

This study aims to combine two theories, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM), to investigate the relationship between the awareness of reducing single-use plastic waste's environmental cost and the behaviour to limit the use of single-use plastic products (SUPPs) by FPT university students.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative research methodologies were employed on a sample of 506 university students. The survey data was then examined using SPSS, SPSS AMOS and SmartPLS software.

Findings

The overarching conclusion of the study is that awareness of reducing single-use plastic waste's environmental cost has a positive impact on FPT university students' behaviour to reduce their use of single-use plastic products. Another intriguing discovery is how socialisation of responsibility affects pro-environmental behaviour through the interplay between personal norms, subjective norms and behavioural intention.

Originality/value

This study on the relationship between SUPP low-consumption awareness and behaviour and mediating factors is a necessary foundation for future studies related to changing the behaviour of students using SUPPs. That will also be a solid foundation for practical plans to change behaviour using SUPPs through communication campaigns to increase awareness.

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the e-waste aspect of sustainability in education, with a specific interest in engineering education. Specifically, it focuses on recycling through reclaiming electronic components from e-waste and reusing them in repairs or in the design and construction of new devices.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review is performed according to the PRISMA methodology. In total, 27 articles are analysed as to publication parameters, characteristics and evaluation of educational interventions on e-waste and evaluation results across major domains of learning (cognitive, affective and 21st century skills).

Findings

The reviewed subject is under-research; publications are rare and mostly in conference proceedings. The majority of interventions take place at university level, in face-to-face mode, using a practical approach in hands-on labs. Educational methods draw from modern, learner-centred pedagogies such as collaborative learning and constructionism. Topics focus on innovative design and construction, while interventions tend to become embedded in engineering curricula/courses. Evaluation of learners’ gains across domains of learning is rare and follows informal procedures that shake the reliability of results. Domains other than the cognitive are scarcely and subjectively evaluated.

Originality/value

Contrary to other aspects of sustainability, the aspect of e-waste has not been reviewed. The applied, hands-on approach and the analytic, synthetic, collaboration and creativity skills it requires are all much valued in education. The current review, therefore, comes to inform, inspire and guide educators and researchers in planning and implementing activities on this subject.

Purpose

In the past decade, against increasing global inequality, higher education has grappled with increased demands for social justice, transformation and decolonisation. While a lot of research in South Africa has focused on the (im)possibilities of fostering racial, gendered, socio-economic and cultural change, the connection of such change to questions of sustainability has been less explored. The purpose of this paper is to specifically explore the agency of academics to foster transformative initiatives for sustainability within the context of institutions historically serving under-represented populations.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a qualitative methodology, this paper highlights the importance of considering sustainability in processes of transformation. This paper is specifically interested in how academic faculty and those in assigned leadership positions view their agency in relation to promoting transformation for sustainability at the institutional level. Drawing on data generated from semi-structured interviews with 13 participants at an historically Black university in South Africa, this paper details academics' and leaders’ experiences and perceptions of their agency.

Findings

This study reveals the adverse interactional dynamics within higher education institutions, which negatively impact academics’ participation as key agents in change processes. Positional and identity challenges faced reveal the persistence of colonial and apartheid legacies of racism, sexism, Afrophobia and xenophobia – which casts a shadow on possible trajectories of transformation and sustainability. This has serious implications for the common good, given South Africa's regional import for knowledge production and decolonisation within universities; its key role in the African 2063 Agenda; and the wider global Sustainable Development agenda.

Originality/value

This study highlights insufficient engagement with the sustainability of transformation efforts within the context of South Africa. This study also emphasises the relation between transformation imperatives and racial, socio-economic, gender and epistemic justice imperatives of sustainable development.

Purpose

Online education enables location-independent learning, potentially providing university students with more flexible study programs and reducing traffic-related CO₂ emissions. This paper aims to examine whether online education can contribute to university-related sustainable everyday mobility, with particular consideration given to aspects of social sustainability and potential rebound effects. Specifically, it explores sustainability dilemmas that arise from conflicting social and ecological effects.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on qualitative data from mobility diaries and extensive semistructured interviews (n = 26) collected at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences in Germany, this study deploys thematic analysis and a typification approach to analyze and classify students’ daily practices related to studying, mobility and dwelling, which may be impacted by online education.

Findings

The study identifies six distinct student types with diverse practices in studying, mobility and dwelling. Comparisons between student types reveal stark differences regarding professional and social goals that students associate with their studies, influencing university-related mobility and residential choices. This leads to varying assessments of online education, with some students expecting benefits and others anticipating severe drawbacks.

Practical implications

The typology developed in this paper can assist Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in comparable contexts in understanding the distinct needs and motivations of students, thereby proactively identifying sustainability dilemmas associated with online education. By leveraging these findings, HEIs can effectively balance diverse interests and contribute meaningfully to sustainability.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to systematically investigate conflicts and rebound effects of online education in the context of sustainable mobility within HEIs.