Preprint Review Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Fostering a Whole Institution Approach to Sustainability Through Systems Thinking: An Analysis of the State-of-the-Art in Sustainability Integration in Higher Education Institutions

Odysseas Christou
* ORCID logo ,
Dimitra B. Manou
,
Stefano Armenia
ORCID logo ,
Eduarfo Franco
ORCID logo ,
Anastasia Blouchoutzi
ORCID logo ,
Iason Papathanasiou
Version 1 : Received: 11 January 2024 / Approved: 11 January 2024 / Online: 11 January 2024 (13:08:12 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Christou, O.; Manou, D.B.; Armenia, S.; Franco, E.; Blouchoutzi, A.; Papathanasiou, J. Fostering a Whole-Institution Approach to Sustainability through Systems Thinking: An Analysis of the State-of-the-Art in Sustainability Integration in Higher Education Institutions. Sustainability 2024, 16, 2508. Christou, O.; Manou, D.B.; Armenia, S.; Franco, E.; Blouchoutzi, A.; Papathanasiou, J. Fostering a Whole-Institution Approach to Sustainability through Systems Thinking: An Analysis of the State-of-the-Art in Sustainability Integration in Higher Education Institutions. Sustainability 2024, 16, 2508.

Abstract

Policy initiatives by the United Nations and EU institutions have emphasized the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to fulfill a significant role in the green transition, and that they tend to fall short of the achievement of this objective. Multiple studies indicate that HEIs assign high importance to the integration of environmental sustainability on a strategic level but generally lack dedicated policies of integration in operational aspects. This paper analyzes the state of the art on research on HEI sustainability and maps institutional sustainability self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines. The mapping was conducted in four prominent research areas: 1) sustainability integration in educational activities, pedagogical perspectives, and systemic transformations; 2) benchmarking sustainability of organizational transformation and operational op-timization, and links between developmental priorities and educational settings; 3) whole-system approaches focusing on the design and implementation of whole-institution sustainability plans; and, 4) HEI sustainability culture and operations. Best practices were selected on criteria of 1) the effectiveness of self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines in each respective research area; 2) the degree of integration of systems thinking and/or modelling; and 3) the incorporation of qualitative indicators for stakeholder engagement.

Keywords

systems thinking; whole institution approach; education for sustainable development (ESD); education for sustainability (EfS); higher education; sustainable development; sustainability

Subject

Social Sciences, Education

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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