Factors encouraging sustainability integration into institutions of higher education

University of Malaya

Publication Release Date: Nov. 21, 2016
Date Posted: Dec. 1, 2016
Submitted by: Julian Dautremont-Smith
Content Type: Publications
Periodical Name: International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
Type: Journal Article

Description

In view of the mountainous evidence on destruction of environmental quality and societal well-being as a consequence of rapid economic development, sustainability has gained vast attention from the community and industrial players. Tertiary education is a platform through which sustainability can be inculcated within the society as it imparts knowledge and provides various trainings. There has been extensive research on factors that encourage sustainability integration into Institutions of Higher Education in the last decade. However, majority of the previous publications only discuss one or two factors exclusively and there is no literature that summarizes and discusses such factors in a collective manner. This paper provides an overview of the main factors that encourage sustainability integration into Institutions of Higher Education in the last decade. It aims at providing a one-stop reference for future researchers who need a reference on factors that encourage sustainability integration into Institutions of Higher Education, especially those who are interested in conducting a progressive research in this context. Accordingly, a review of relevant publications from year 2000 and above was conducted and it was found that there are generally eight main factors, which encourage sustainability integration into Institutions of Higher Education, which are: (1) integration into curricula; (2) suitable pedagogy; (3) campus management; (4) research; (5) opportunities provision; (6) availability of social capital; (7) awareness level; and (8) community outreach. There is no indicator on the impact level of these factors, and thus, it is suggested that relevant research can be conducted in future.


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