Publications

Introduction

AASHE’s publications library is the leading repository of reports, journal articles, books, and student research on sustainability in higher education. Certain publication types are entered in the annual AASHE Awards Program.

At a Glance

3968
Total Resources
1910
Organizations
99
Countries
58
U.S. States & Territories
12
Canadian Provinces

Bars in graphs can be clicked to view resources that align with a particular category. Because a resource may be listed under multiple topics and disciplines, graph data may include higher total counts than what is indicated in total resources above.

3968 resources

Sustainability Governance at Higher Education Institutions: Equipped to Transform?

  • University of Vechta
  • Freie Universität Berlin

In this opinion paper, we reflect on selected literature as well as on specific research we have conducted into sustainability governance at German HEIs. We then provide answers to the …


Overcoming barriers to achieving sustainable development at universities in Vietnam

  • Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City

Numerous studies in the business context have identified variables that can promote sustainable development. By contrast, studies of universities have mostly clarified challenges of higher education, with little focus on …


A common framework for MOOC curricular development in climate change education - Findings and adaptations under the BECK project for higher education institutions in Europe and Asia

  • University of Huddersfield
  • Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH)
  • University of Barishal

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction has identified the climate change education as a key motivation for improving energy efficiency, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction by encouraging …


Teaching and learning for change: analysis of a post-graduate One Health program

  • Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Brussels Region)
  • Université Dan Dicko Dankoulodo de Maradi
  • Université de Namur
  • Université de Liège
  • Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire
  • Université de Montpellier

As problematized through the One Health concept, global health issues are defeating conventional disciplinary approaches since they unfold across various scientific domains and across all levels of society. Calling for …


Zero Single-Use Plastics University

  • Universidad CES (Antioquia)

Since 2019 CES University began with the implementation of the zero single-use plastics guidelines in order to restrict 100% the use of all single-use plastics at Campus and thus avoid …


Perceptions of a green university: an exploratory study among students

  • UNSW Sydney (NSW)
  • Hong Kong Baptist University

This study aims at exploring perceptions of a green university among its students. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 postgraduate and undergraduate students at a green campus in Germany through …


Sustainable Development Goals as a Framework for Postgraduate Future Research Following COVID-19 Pandemic: A New Norm for Developing Countries

  • Northwest University (WA)

Education is regarded as the key to economic development, and COVID-19 has provided all universities the unique opportunity to urgently address their fitness for purpose. Universities can play a significant …


Higher Education and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)—Potential Contribution of the Undergraduate Courses of the School of Social Sciences of the University of Évora

  • University of Évora

In this work we analyzed the mapping of Sustainable Development Goals in the curricular units of the undergraduate courses of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Évora. …


Integrating global sustainability into social studies teachers' education: a collaborative self-study

  • Kennesaw State University (GA)

There have been increasing calls for social studies educators to engage issues of sustainability. Proponents argue that the very survival of the planet depends on the degree to which teachers …


Introducing the Nitrogen Footprint in SIMAP: A Review of Improvements in Nitrogen Footprint Methodology for Institutions

  • Brown University (RI)
  • Colorado State University (CO)
  • Eastern Mennonite University (VA)
  • University of California, Davis (CA)
  • University of New Hampshire (NH)
  • University of Virginia (VA)
  • Marine Biological Laboratory (MA)

Nitrogen (N) footprint assessments have served as tools for sustainability, research, and education at institutions of higher learning by connecting institutional activities and resource consumption with environmental impacts through the …


Sustainability as an Emerging Paradigm in Universities

  • University of Valladolid
  • Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz
  • Universitat Carlemany
  • Fundación Universitaria Los Libertadores
  • Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado
  • Universidad Nacional Experimental Politécnica Antonio José de Sucre

This article aims to review the perspective of sustainability adoption in universities through two dimensions: firstly, from the educational and research process, and second, from their global positioning in terms …


Is the global reporting initiative suitable to account for university social responsibility? Evidence from European institutions

  • Loyola Universida Andalucía
  • University of the Basque Country

Recognising the importance of universities in the achievement of social and global objectives, this paper aims to study the relevance of the global reporting initiative (GRI) methodology for reporting University …


The impact of peer learning on student performance in an architectural sustainability course

  • University of Texas at San Antonio (TX)
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (CA)
  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya

The importance of sustainability in architecture currently necessitates the integration of innovative teaching strategies on the subject into architecture programs. This study aims to introduce and examine peer learning pedagogy …


Carbon Footprint at a United Arab Emirates University: GHG Protocol

  • American University of Sharjah

University campuses can be leaders of change by tracking carbon footprints and establishing strategies for reductions. The American University of Sharjah (AUS) has led this effort in the United Arab …


Education for sustainable development in Japan and Malaysia: a comparative study among engineering undergraduates

  • King Abdulaziz University
  • Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (Perak Darul Ridzuan)
  • Kanazawa Institute of Technology

This study aims to examine the impacts of education for sustainable development subject(s) offered at University A, Japan and University B, Malaysia on the attitude and perception toward environment, social …


Enabling students to face the environmental crisis and climate change with resilience: inclusive environmental and sustainability education approaches and strategies for coping with eco-anxiety

  • University of Winnipeg (MB)
  • Université de Saint-Boniface (MB)

As university educators, we should educate students to be able to address the challenges presented by the environmental crisis and climate change by being responsible eco-citizens, and creative, solution-oriented thinkers. …


Custom-made apparel manufacturing micro-enterprise owners’ perspectives on sustainability: how higher education can contribute

  • University of South Africa

The purpose of this paper is to investigate custom-made apparel manufacturing micro-enterprise (CMME) owners’ perspectives of sustainability within their business practices throughout the entire product development process and determine how …


Business models for integration of sustainability in universities: An explorative analysis of Italian state universities

  • Università degli Studi di Sassari

Although the leadership role of higher education in creating a sustainable development has been widely recognized, there is a paucity of studies following a strategic perspective to explain how universities …


CSR Implication and Disclosure in Higher Education: Uncovered Points. Results from a Systematic Literature Review and Agenda for Future Research

  • Università di Bologna
  • Coventry University
  • University of the West of Scotland (Scotland)

This research reviews and analyzes prior corporate social responsibility (CSR) studies centered on its implications and disclosure in higher education institutions (HEIs). Nine major databases were analyzed to review research …


Holistic integration of sustainability at universities: Evidences from Colombia

  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • Universidad EAFIT (Antioquia)
  • Universidad de Medellin

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. …


Investigating the environmental behavior of business and accounting university students

  • National Technical University of Athens
  • University of West Attica

The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying dimensions of environmental behavior (EB) and examine how environmental education (EE) and ecological sensitivity (ES) motivate the EB of Business …


A framework for implementing and reporting United Nations sustainable development goals in Spanish higher education institutions

  • Universidad de Oviedo (Asturias)

This study aims to explore a holistic framework for implementing and reporting sustainable development goals (SDGs) in universities. The aim is to define elements of the content as well as …


Trends in scientific publishing on sustainability in higher education

  • University of Malta (Northern Harbor District)
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz
  • University of Chester
  • Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
  • Universidade Positivo

It is widely acknowledged that research and publications in peer reviewed journals offer important metrics in describing the academic outputs of higher education institutions on one hand, and their societal …


Exploring the usage of social media in extant campus sustainability assessment frameworks for sustainable campus development

  • University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

As one of the buzzwords in the present age with considerable impacts in tertiary institutions, social media use in online teaching, learning and information dissemination have been extensively discussed in …


Walking the Walk: Democratizing Change in Teacher Education

  • University of Tasmania (TAS)

In this essay, as a group of teacher educators, we discuss our experience of “walking the walk” of teacher education transformation at a time of urgent change. We reflect upon …


How community colleges and other TVET institutions contribute to the united nations sustainable development goals

  • California State University, Northridge (CA)
  • Jiangsu Vocational Institute of Architectural Technology
  • Universidad Autónoma de Chile
  • Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (ON)

Even though the importance of technical and vocational education is acknowledged in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015, the university sector has dominated the …


Decolonization and Transformation of Higher Education for Sustainability

  • University of Maryland, College Park (MD)

This article argues that institutions of higher education (IHEs) require a fundamental paradigm shift toward an Indigenous Knowledge (IK) model inclusive of Indigenous Peoples, perspectives, and values. This model acknowledges …


Reflections and reflective practice to advance responsible management education for sustainability: the case of an Australian MBA programme

  • Griffith University (Queensland)

This paper aims to explore Master of Business Administration (MBA) students’ “reflections” and/or “reflection on practice” of sustainability into responsible management education using Bain et al.’s (2002) 5Rs (reporting, responding, …


Wicked problems: university research topic convergence despite divergence in local educational and innovation policies

  • National Defense University (DC)
  • Häme University of Applied Sciences
  • Universidade Feevale

This study aims to determine how sustainable development (SD) demands (according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) SD themes from 2005) are connected to the contents of …


If It Is Life We Want: A Prayer for the Future (of the) University

  • Antioch University, New England (NH)
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
  • University of York

Universities are one potentially important place – albeit not the only one – to initiate the next generation into becoming the adult humans needed to navigate the difficult future of …


Advancing SDG competencies in higher education: exploring an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach

  • Kristianstad University

This study aims to explore an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach for advancing knowledge and understanding of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at higher education institutions (HEIs).


Greening on-campus housing: blending commercial and higher education contexts

  • Virginia Tech (VA)

With the United States higher education sector representing over five billion square feet and expending over six billion dollars annually on energy costs, the higher education institution has an opportunity …


Don’t be a waster! Student perceptions of recycling strategies at an English University’s halls of residence

  • Bournemouth University (Dorset)

This paper aims to explore student perceptions of recycling and explore whether one university’s strategy helped or hindered student recycling in their university's halls of residence. There is near-universal acknowledgement …


Teamwork makes the net-work: participant-governed networks and athletics sustainability collaboration

  • Frostburg State University (MD)
  • North Carolina State University (NC)
  • Temple University (PA)

Athletic departments play an important role in sustainability-based collaborative processes due to their boundary spanning connections with both internal and external university stakeholders. As a result, athletic department representatives have …


Addressing plate waste and consumption practice at university canteens: realizing green university through citizen-consumers

  • Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University

This study aims to explore ways to minimize plate waste at university canteens by studying plate waste and consumers at three main canteens of a university, Thailand.


Integrating Sustainable Development Goals in educational institutions

  • Universitat Jaume I (Castelló)

This research contributes to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Education, a growing area of research, by means of a systematic review of the literature on …


Intention to adopt pro-environmental behaviors among university students of hard and soft sciences: the case of drinking by reusable bottles

  • Università degli Studi di Torino
  • Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

The market of bottled water is one of the largest in the world. Paradoxically, the consumption of water in plastic bottles is highest in countries rich in the potable tap …


Addressing the higher education for sustainable development agenda at the College of Open and Distance Learning, St. Mary’s University, Ethiopia: opportunities and challenges

  • St. Mary’s University, Ethiopia

This study aims to assess the extent to which sustainable development practices are prevalent at the College of Open and Distance Learning (CODL), St. Mary’s University, Ethiopia. The assessment focused …


Higher education and the sustainable tourism pedagogy: Are tourism students ready to lead change in the post pandemic era?

  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid

The present context of COVID19 pandemics has highlighted the vulnerability of tourism. Sustainable tourism needs to be thoroughly implemented to confront this and other crises; and sustainable tourism pedagogies must …


Planning to overcome perceived barriers: environmental and sustainability education, inclusion, and accessibility

  • Université de Saint-Boniface (MB)

Integrating environmental and sustainability education (ESE) approaches into faculty of education classrooms that are inclusive of learners with a broad range of diverse needs can seem daunting. Our purpose is …


Enhancing Student Learning of Global Warming Through Reflective Writing

  • Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TX)
  • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (TX)

The National Academy of Science has published studies showing strong scientific evidence that global warming is caused by human consumption of fossil fuels,1 yet recent surveys have shown young adults …


One Year Real Data Rooftop PV System Performance Analysis of a University Academic Campus

  • Philadelphia University (Jordan)

This paper presents the details of 13 rooftop PV systems installed at Philadelphia University (PU) in Amman-Jordan and gives an assessment of these PV systems in terms of the design …


Nursing students' perception of climate change and sustainability actions – A mismatched discourse: A qualitative, descriptive exploratory study

  • Dalarna University

Climate change is described as the biggest global challenge for human health in the upcoming decade. Nurses play a central role in mitigating the effect of climate change on the …


(Im)possibilities of “circular” production: Learning from corporate case studies of (un)sustainability

  • University of Leeds (West Yorkshire)
  • The Hague University of Applied Science

This article discusses Cradle to Cradle (C2C) and circular economy designs including three key principles of C2C production as well as the so-called 9-R hierarchy of priorities in circular economy …


Conceptualization of sustainability among students, administrative and teaching staff of a university community: An exploratory study in Italy

  • Università degli Studi di Torino
  • Politecnico di Torino
  • Sapienza Università di Roma

Universities have been widely recognised as unparalleled potential catalysers for sustainability, being both formal learning institutions and places where informal, mutual influences and lay/expert knowledge meet. The 17 Sustainable Development …


Review of empirical research on university social responsibility

  • Chaoyang University of Technology

This paper aims to systematically review the university social responsibility (USR) implementation from the empirical studies, which published during the period from 2004 to 2020. These synthesis results confirmed that …


A Paradigm Shift in International Service-Learning: The Imperative for Reciprocal Learning

  • Appalachian State University (NC)

The US-based authors argue that the practice of what we currently call “international service-learning” does not generally achieve its most important goals in the context of the global South, especially …


Students’ knowledge and expectations about sustainable food systems in higher education

  • University of Kassel
  • Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
  • University of Copenhagen
  • Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego (Warsaw)
  • ISARA Agro School for Life
  • Eesti Maaülikool, EMÜ
  • FH Münster
  • University of Gastronomic Sciences (Piedmont)

To clarify needs and requests of the young generation to the contemporary and future education on food systems, this paper aims to examine the following issues: students’ background knowledge, students’ …


Sustainability challenges in architectural education: assessment of an architectural technology course on the bioclimatic redesign of existing buildings in Greece

  • National Technical University of Athens

During the last decades, the sustainable redesign of existing buildings has been gaining importance in both architectural practice and education. While based on the knowledge of the basic principles of …


Transforming science and society? Methodological lessons from and for transformation research

  • Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Ecologic Institute
  • Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER)

Transformation research has in the past years emerged as a shared lens to study and support radical societal change towards sustainability. Given the nascent and exploratory—yet highly normative and ambitious—character …