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

4205
Total Resources
2016
Organizations
101
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.

4205 resources

Education for Sustainable Development in Spanish Engineering Degrees. Case study

  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • University of Cadiz
  • Universidad Pablo de Olavide

The purpose of this work is to present a methodology for analyzing the perception of engineering students about the sustainability learning they have achieved during their university studies. This study …


Education for sustainable development with transdisciplinary-oriented courses - experiences and recommendations for future collaborations in higher education teaching

  • Wuppertal Institut

The paper investigates how teacher trainees in higher education geography and external, non-scientific partners perceive and experience collaborations in an active teaching and learning approach. Such formats are recommended in …


Sustainability university rankings: a comparative analysis of UI green metric and the times higher education world university rankings

  • University of São Paulo
  • Universidade Federal do Paraná (PR)

This study aims to answer the research question: How to evaluate the structure of global university sustainability rankings according to the Berlin Principles (BP) framework.


Considering Indigenous Environmental Issues in Canadian Curricula: A Critical Discourse Analysis

  • Concordia University Chicago (IL)
  • University of Calgary (AB)

This article presents insights from a curricular review of Canada’s ten provinces and three territories with a focus on critical Indigenous environmental issues. This inquiry was conducted amidst nationally prominent …


University gardens for sustainable citizenship: assessing the impacts of garden-based learning on environmental and food education at Spanish higher education

  • Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador
  • University of Valladolid

Gardens are being used at all educational stages, because they provide with a real-world context for active and experiential learning. In Spain, there exists a movement in favor of their …


Investigating undergraduate student learning experiences using the good practice learning and teaching for sustainability education (GPLTSE) framework

  • RMIT University

Sustainability curriculum in higher education is a crucial lever for building capabilities and knowledge for graduates to address the interconnected social, ecological and economic challenges of the 21st century in …


A hybrid approach to sustainable development competencies: the role of formal, informal and non-formal learning experiences

  • University of São Paulo

This paper aims to explore whether formal, non-formal, and informal learning experiences contribute to developing sustainable development competencies (SDCs) among students in a Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) signatory …


Developing a sustainability competences paradigm in Higher Education or a White Elephant?

  • Gävle University College

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been at the forefront in creating and breaking paradigms, and educating the future decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and leaders. In the last decade, there have been many …


Sustainability in Top Hospitality/Leisure Management Programs: Teaching for a Sustainable Future?

  • University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

Higher education (HE) programs in hospitality/leisure management studies offer the theoretical knowledge which should prepare graduates to be effective thought leaders for a changing global workplace. Previous research examined HE …


University contributions to co-creating sustainable tourism destinations

  • University of Queensland (QLD)
  • University of Gothenburg
  • Universita' di Macerata

A debate is emerging about the evolving functions and roles of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). New functions pivot on value-adding to the social, environmental and economic sustainability of communities – …


INSTITUTIONAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS – CASE STUDY OF BANGALORE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, SOUTH INDIA

  • Bangalore University (Karnataka)

The purpose of doing Ecological Footprint analysis for any University is to understand and have a clear view of the Institution's Ecological impact and sustainability practices. To make staff and …


Transformative, interdisciplinary and intercultural learning for developing HEI students’ sustainability-oriented competences: a case study

  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • University of Jyvaskyla (PO Box 35)

The literature has produced relevant theoretical insights into pedagogical frameworks, tools and competences that would be best suited to teach sustainability at higher education (HE). This article contributes to such …


The Influence of Instructional Delivery Modality on Sustainability Literacy

  • University of Georgia (GA)
  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)

As human environmental impacts have increased, so has the desirability of sustainable practices in multiple dimensions and at multiple scales. In this context, sustainability literacy has become a desirable outcome …


Life Cycle Assessment of Compostable Coffee Pods: A US University Based Case Study

  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory (TN)

Single-serve machines have proven to be a rapid and convenient mechanism for preparing coffee for consumption. However, disposing the single-use coffee pods accompanying each use creates insurmountable waste in landfills. …


The socially responsible European university: a challenging project

  • University College London (London)
  • Universidad de Tarapacá

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to propose a thesis about the historical evolution of the relationship of the European University in relation to the idea of social responsibility.

Design/methodology/approach: This …


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).


Teaching slow fashion: an inquiry-based pedagogical approach

  • SUNY Buffalo State (NY)
  • University of North Texas (TX)

There is a growing recognition for the need to integrate slow fashion concepts within the fashion curriculum. Slow fashion is a dimension of sustainability gaining industry attention. This study explores …


Innovations and challenges in SDG integration and reporting in higher education: a case study from the University of South Florida

  • University of South Florida (FL)

As the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been widely adopted since 2015, higher education institutions (HEIs) are experimenting with ways they can be measured, reported and incorporated into all …


Training of communities of sustainability practice through science and art

  • Universidad de Guanajuato

This paper aims to analyse the university experience of a social laboratory that mixes science and art to instruct communities of sustainability practice in heterogeneous contexts through interpretive audio-visual ethnography …


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 …


Empowering undergraduate students to take action: an empathetic mindset toward education for sustainable development

  • National Sun Yat-sen University

This study aims to investigate the potential of an empathetic mindset aimed at empowering undergraduate students to work toward sustainable development (SD), addressing both theoretical and practical dimensions.


Educating for the Environment: The Role of the Host Destination in Education Travel Programs

  • Franklin University Switzerland (Ticino)

The benefits from educational travel programs (ETPs) for students have been well-documented in the literature, particularly for programs looking at sustainability and environmental issues. However, the impacts the ETPs have …


Incorporating green building into architectural education: what can we learn from the value-belief-norm theory?

  • Griffith University (Queensland)
  • Shenzhen General Institute of Architectural Design and Research
  • Shenzhen University

Aiming to find out how to incorporate green building into the architectural curriculum, this study aims to explore the psychological path for cultivating architectural students’ awareness and motivation to learn …


Toward a Sustainable University: Babes-Bolyai University Goes Green

  • Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai

The present research aims to investigate the roadmap followed by a Romanian University implementing sustainability practices and thus contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Informed by the stakeholder …


Lessons learned from Covid-19: Why sustainability education needs to become political

  • University of Zurich

Research from various disciplines indicates that the human endeavour has shifted the earth into a new geologic epoch: the Anthropocene, in which we are stressing several planetary boundaries. Many political …


Social Learning of Sustainability in a Pandemic—Changes to Sustainability Understandings, Attitudes, and Behaviors during the Global Pandemic in a Higher Education Setting

  • University of Queensland (QLD)
  • University of Klagenfurt

When people learn from each other and change their behavior accordingly, this is called social learning. COVID-19 not only taught us new habits to limit contagion, imposed restrictions also limited …


Cooling supply costs of a university campus

  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • EIFER - European Institute for Energy Research

Global climate change and growing research activities lead to increasing cooling demands and related supply costs at universities, while at the same time ambitious goals towards carbon neutral campuses are …


Environmental sustainability in higher education: Mapping the field

  • University of Magdalena
  • University of Barcelona

A considerable amount of literature has been published on environmental sustainability in the context of higher education. However, no previous studies have investigated how environmental sustainability has evolved in the …


Stimulating student’s pro-environmental behavior in higher education institutions: an ability–motivation–opportunity perspective

  • University of Science and Technology of China
  • Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology
  • Women University Swabi
  • Hefei University of Technology

The slow and inadequate environmental performance of higher education institutions is attracting the consideration of researchers toward a behavioral change of teachers and students rather than just concentrating on learning …


Delivering on the promise: how are sustainability research institutes enabling interdisciplinary research?

  • University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork (Co. Cork)

Despite the potential for research institutes to advance interdisciplinary research on university campuses, There have been few studies on how interdisciplinary research centres integrate multiple disciplines in practice, how they …


Transforming sustainability education through transdisciplinary practice

  • University of Technology Sydney

Addressing urban sustainability challenges through transformative learning requires learners to be receptive to alternative viewpoints and to critically analyse their own assumptions and worldviews. Higher education institutions have an important …


A proposal of personal competencies for sustainable consumption

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Despite advances in Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) scholarship and practice, ESE has not yet contributed to mitigate the sustainability-related problems it is meant to remedy. As part of an …


Effectiveness of a game-based class for interdisciplinary energy systems education in engineering courses

  • University of Tsukuba

Professionals in the energy sector are required to understand the interactions among technology, society, and the environment to tackle complex trade-offs among policy issues. The fostering of such professionals with …


Promoting recycling, reducing and reusing in the School of Design: a step toward improving sustainability literacy

  • Syracuse University (NY)

This paper aims to explore systematic strategies implemented at the School of Design, X University, to use materials more sustainably and responsibly in the design studios.


The University at the Crossroads of Eco-Social Challenges: Pedagogy of Care and the Community of Life for a Transformative Learning

  • Universidad de Granada

What kind of responsibility do universities have with regard to the current emergency created by ecological and socio-economic collapse? This work begins by considering the colonization of universities by neoliberal …


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 …


Towards a European framework for community engagement in higher education – a case study analysis of European universities

  • University of Twente
  • Ghent University
  • Technological University Dublin (Dublin)
  • University of Rijeka
  • Institute for the Development of Education

This paper aims to examine the development and piloting of a novel European framework for community engagement (CE) in higher education, which has been purposefully designed to progress the CE …


What Does Education for Sustainable Development Offer in Initial Teacher Training? A Systematic Review

  • University of Jaén
  • Universidad de Granada

Promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education impliesan improvement and quality in the exercise of responsible citizenship, being the key inthe training of future teachers as the main …


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 …


Innovation for environmental sustainability: longitudinal effects of an education for sustainable development intervention on university students’ pro-environmentalism

  • University of Zaragoza

Although education for sustainable development (ESD) is a key tool in the transition to a more sustainable society, its integration in higher education remains scarce. One reason for this is …


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 …


Carbon footprint in Higher Education Institutions: a literature review and prospects for future research

  • Universitat Jaume I (Castelló)

Higher Education Institutions (HEI) or universities, as organisations engaged in education, research and community services, play an important role in promoting sustainable development. Therefore, they are increasingly linked to the …


Global Social Responsibility and the Internationalisation of Higher Education for Society

  • Boston College (MA)
  • La Trobe University (Victoria)
  • Leeds Beckett University
  • Rovira i Virgili University

In this article, we argue that there is an urgent need to align internationalisation and university social responsibility agendas through the construct of Internationalisation of Higher Education for Society. The …


Teaching Environmental Sustainability while Transforming Study Abroad

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)

Environmental issues are of especially great importance to younger individuals, such as university students. Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are a proven methodology for transforming short-term study abroad to yield …


Community-responsive scholar-activist research: conceptualizing capacity building and sustainability in a Northern California community-university partnership

  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus (NJ)
  • University of California, Davis (CA)
  • University of California, Merced (CA)

We critically examine the ongoing development of a collaborative, responsive, activist research process between academics and farmworkers. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with community-based researchers and scholar-activists, we assess our team’s …


Pedagogies for peacebuilding in higher education: How and why should higher education institutions get involved in teaching for peace?

  • Universidad de los Andes
  • University of Sussex (Sussex)
  • University of Rwanda
  • Univerzitet u Sarajevu

This article makes the case for why higher education institutions should take the teaching of peacebuilding seriously. It is co-authored by a team from four countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, …


Sustainability behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge: comparing university students and the general public

  • Michigan State University (MI)

Sustainability science integrates many academic fields, requiring a broad understanding of diverse scientific concepts. Additionally, its focus on real-world issues means that researchers must also understand sustainability behaviors and attitudes. …


Exploring the development of context appreciation in coursework that targets problem-solving for sustainable development

  • Griffith University (Queensland)
  • Swinburne University of Technology

This study aims to explore the role of planned, sudden shifts in lived experiences, in influencing learner capabilities towards improved problem-solving for sustainable development outcomes. The authors responded to employers …


The Influence of Higher Education on Student Learning and Agency for Sustainability Transition

  • Victoria University (Victoria)

Higher education (HE) has a key role in educating graduates as decision makers and change agents; however, sustainability education (SE) remains on the fringes of mainstream curricula and is conducted …


What Do Freshmen Know about Sustainability? Analysing the Skill Gap among University Business Administration Students

  • Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
  • Universidad de Murcia (Murcia)

This study aims at creating and validating an instrument to assess the level of mastery in sustainability competencies of freshmen students in business-related studies. To reach this goal, a questionnaire …